Besides, the Travel Corporation of India, a private tour operator, also plans customised tours to the village for watching the event.

An official of Hotel Maurya-Patna, the only five-star hotel in the state capital, said the hotel has received lots of calls from different countries and from across India for information relating to transportation and accommodation at Taregana.

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is keen to make the best use of the celestial event to showcase the change in the state over the past few years and has asked the officials concerned to make arrangements for scientists and others to watch it.

'In the last few days, several high-level meetings attended by senior state administration officials have been held to review arrangements at Taregana,' an official in the chief minister's office told IANS.

The district administration is busy making last-minute preparations, while the departments concerned have been assigned the tasks of setting up temporary public toilets, repairing the road, providing round-the-clock power supply as well as bringing out a pamphlet on the village.

Patna's Divisional Commissioner Sunil Barthwal said the main arrangement for scientists, astro-tourists and others, including the chief minister, to watch the eclipse is being made atop a newly constructed referral hospital at Masaurih town, hardly a kilometre from Taregana.

The state government is providing a pair of special goggles at minimal price to view the eclipse and has extensively advertised the do's and don'ts in the local media to create awareness about the event.

(Imran Khan can be contacted at imran.k@ians.in)