A site for religious tourism developed at a cost of Rs 34.83 crore will come up at Solaphok near Namchi in South Sikkim. The site will have a 108-foot-tall statue of Lord Shiva, replicas of the four dhams- Rameswaram, Dwarka, Badrinath and Jagannath 12 jyotirlingas, a temple of Shirdi Sai Baba and one of Lord Kirateshwar on 50 acres of land. Secretary-cum-Commissioner of the Rural Development Department V B Pathak said that the foundation stone of the project will be laid soon. He said his department had given the contract to the Calcutta Hindustan Steel Works Limited and the tie up with the state tourism department will be undertaken only after the construction was over. This is only the first phase of the work and it will take three years to complete, Mr. Pathak said, adding ''in the second phase, a cultural centre, museum, artifacts gallery, open-air theatre, audio-video centre tourist hut and an exhibition centre would be constructed.''

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