Shimla, Jul 10 (IANS): One of the famous and richest Hindu shrines, Chintpurni in Himachal Pradesh's Una district will be developed with the central assistance of Rs 50 crore for promoting religious tourism, Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur said on Tuesday.

The Chintpurani Devi Temple is one of the 51 Shaktipeethas and annually gets approximately 16 lakh devotees.

Thakur said the Union Tourism Ministry has allocated Rs 50 crore for the development of Chintpurni Devi Temple under the PRASAD scheme.

Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spiritual Augmentation Drive or PRASAD scheme focusses on development and beautification of identified pilgrimage destinations.

Presently, there is congestion near the shrine and the temple complex lacks basic facilities for the tourists.

Under the project, efforts would be to develop basic amenities adjoining the temple complex for pilgrims, improvement of streets, introduction of non-polluting public traffic system, new alternate path, disabled friendly infrastructure and a new block for the pilgrims for 'darshan', etc.

Under the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-assisted project, a tourist reception centre-cum-parking project of Rs 52 crore was constructed last year at Chintpurni by the state Department of Tourism and Civil Aviation.