BIHAR -- How Dangerous ?

bihar123

great place. definately worth visiting the Buddhist circuit.

steven_ber

I'm sure things are not as bad as many people think, but it's not wise to say things are safe & sound.

A long post explaining things to avoid, times not to travel and other things will go a long way to attracting tourists to the area.

The crimes I read about in Bihar (as well as many other areas) are enough to put many tourists off travelling to Bihar (even though the victims are virtually never tourists), simply saying it's "not like that anymore" and it's "safe and sound" will not reassure people at all.

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bihar123

well if the tourists are not the victims then why ask. its definately safe and sound. even london is not safe after dark.

Nick-H

Ummm... I hope you are better qualified on Bihar than London.

London is not much more dangerous after dark than in the daylight!

Depends, like many cities, on where you are and what you do.

I can assure you that Londoners do not have some sort of unofficial curfew!

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ISN

It is very natural for a person to support the place where they are born. Whenever you make some claims's please backup your claim's with facts.

Jail no bar for Bihar candidates

Federal rule 'improves' Bihar life

Crime situation in Bihar beyond control: HC

Criminals find their match in new Bihar

The Challenges in Bihar

About Bihar

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Nick-H

Bihar123... did you notice the date of the previous post?

Why are you resurrecting a thread almost four years old?

saajan_20

I presume the answer to your question lies in the id of the person mentioned above !!!!!

BlueInGreen

Like Alan D said, Dalrymple paints a slightly scary picture of Bihar. His book was written in 98 so the statistics are a little out of date, but here they are anyway; between January and June of 1997 there were 64,085 violent offences (armed robbery, looting, rioting, murder etc), including 2,625 murders, 1,116 kidnappings. Fourteen murders a day? Doesn't sound all that safe to me... be careful WW.

70s-80s overlander

This Bihar question is quite important. Once I learned that Sasaram had been proposed as a World Heritage site, I became curious about the options for visiting. Generally, becoming a WH site brings some infrastructure improvement. In terms of lodging, I Googled "bike bihar sasaram" and "bicycle bihar sasaram" -- which brought up several blogs mentioning very basic hotels and a constant need for drinking water/ chai. By bus or train, apparently Sasaram is 1/2 way [3.5-4 hours] from Varanasi or Bodgaya; as of June 2006 the road was said to be 82% paved -- and is said to have heavy truck traffic.

The following is the tentative WH description:
"The tomb of Sher Shah Suri at Sasaram is an imposing stone structure standing in the middle of a fine tank & rising from a large stone terrace. This terrace rests obliquely on a platform with a flight of steps leading to the water’s edge. The upper terrace is enclosed by a battlemented parapet wall with octagonal domed chambers at 4 corners, 2 small projecting pillared balconies on each of its 4 sides & pierced with a doorway in the east forms the only approach to the tomb. In the middle of the upper terrace stands the building of the mausoleum on a low octagonal plinth. The building consists of a very large octagonal chamber surrounded by a wide verandah on al the 4 sides. Internally, the verandah is covered by a series of 24 small domes, each supported on 4 arches but as the roof is a pillared cupola adorned by panels of white glazed tiles now much discoloured. The tomb chamber has 3 lofty arches on each of the eight sides. They rise 22 feet higher than the verandah roof & support the magnificent & lofty dome which is one of the largest domes in India. Surrounding the main dome are 8 pillared cupolas on the corners of the octagon of the chamber walls. The interior of the tomb is sufficiently well ventilated & lighted through large windows on the top portion of the walls fitted with stone jalis in varying patterns. The jambs & spandrils of the arch of the mihrab on the western wall were once profusely adorned with verses from the Quran & inscriptions, with glazed tiles of various colours arranged in geometrical patterns & with beautiful floral carvings in stone enclosed in enamel borders. Much of this decoration has vanished already. Traces of similar decoration in enamel or glazed tile works are also to be seen on the interior of the dome, the walls & the cupolas on the outside. In a small arched recess above the mihrab on the outside wall is an inscription in 2 lines recording the completion of the tomb by his son & successor Salim or Islam Shah, some 3 months after the death of Sher Shah who died in A.H. 952 (1545 CE)."

It might take only one good tourist hotel -- maybe at a full-service truck stop -- to change this central section of the road from Varanasi to Bodgaya.

steven_ber

All I was trying to say is that Bihar already has a bad reputation, some tourists will avoid it because of it, I had planned to go to the Sonepur Mela last November, but I ended up taking my baby to India, so only went to places I knew I'd feel 100% comfortable.

Whilst I'll still head for Bihar as soon as I can, I think I'll make sure I don't talk to the locals about recent problems with my landlord.

lonelyaztec

Very very

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shashank.aggarwal

well this is something when not all numbers are not reported..!!

Unfortunately it has not been able to improve its reputation till date, however I guess they are trying hard, but it will take a lot of time..

and forget about western tourist..I being an Indian, am afraid to venture in that area, infact I avoid the trains that would pass through the area even If i have to get down a lot earlier..

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Nick-H

Guys.

Bihar is just fine.

I know that because I distinctly remember reading, a few months back, a full page advertisement in the newspaper placed there by the Chief Minister of the state telling us how it now has law and order, great tourism, prosperity, health, wealth, blah blah blah blah.

And if a top politician says so, well then, it must be right.

Errr.... Mustn't it?

Prashant.M

Of course, who else can know the ground situation better.

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blackbird

I looked into running tours for westerners in Bihar and Jharkhand last year. This turned out to be impossible because my contact was not trustworthy (to which most Indians say, "what did you expect from a Bihari?".....), but in any case the lack of infrastructure was the main problem and would probably have made me give up on the idea for the time being.

We visited Bodhgaya, Rajgir, Nalanda, Palamau, Hazaribagh and Deogarh, and of course stopped in various other places on the way. Generally people were perfectly friendly, and not once did I feel I was in any danger. As I understand it, the main advice is not to travel by night on any road because of the danger of dacoits, but other than that, the murders, riots, kidnappings etc are nothing to do with foreigners and we are pretty unlikely to get caught in the crossfire.

So I would say to anyone, by all means visit Bihar, don't travel on country roads at night, but otherwise just take the same care you would anywhere else in the world where theft and muggings are possible.