West Bengal

West Bengal, in the words of the poet is a fascinating and enticing state with a vast pool of natural resources, exotic locations and a rich treasure of flora and fauna. From snow-capped mountains, meandering rivers, world's greatest delta, colonial monuments, the state has everything except a desert. The state Bengal provides tourists with any destination of their choice and is also a variegated attraction for tourists looking for their favourite haunts or activities.

For sustainable promotion and development of tourism in the state, the tourism department of the state government has undertaken certain initiatives to develop and promote eco-tourism, village tourism, heritage tourism, cultural tourism, adventure/sports tourism, and pilgrim tourism in the state. It would also ensure development of infrastructure facilities in and around the tourist spots to ensure regular tourist flow throughout the year.

The Eco-Initiatives

In its efforts to promote eco-tourism in the state, the department is projecting 'The Dooars' in the northern part of the state as an 'eco-tourism' destination. Derived from the word 'doors' (doors to Bhutan), the Dooars valley also forms a gateway to the hill stations of North Bengal, Sikkim, Bhutan, Assam and the North East. The valley stretches across a vast span of 130 km by 40 km. The unending stretch of virgin forests interwoven with innumerable tea gardens is criss-crossed by Teesta, Jaldhaka, Torsha and Sankosh rivers and their innumerable tributaries trotting and rolling down from the hills. Beautiful motorable roads cut through the deep forests teeming with wildlife.

The Dooars valley is specially noted for its wild life sanctuaries, the most notable of, which are the national park of Gorumara, the Mahananda Sanctuary, the Buxa Tiger Reserve and Jaldapara Sanctuary. These sanctuaries abound in a fascinating diversity of flora and fauna, vast texture of massive trees giving birth to varieties of orchids and rarest plants and resounded with echoes of birds and wild animals make it a veritable paradise for lovers of nature and eco-tourism.

Jaldapara Wildlife Sanctuary and Garumara National Park are habitats of the rare One-Horned Rhinoceros, Mighty Bison's, Spotted Deer, Barking Deer, Sambar, Hog Deer, Reptiles, huge Wide Tuskers, Wild Boars and the rarest variety of animals and birds including plenty of peacocks. Elephant riding through the Jaldapara forest in search of wild animals, particularly one-horned rhinos, has become a craze among tourists to the area.

A visit to the greenery of the Dooars and spending a few days in the midst of forests, rivers and wildlife will definitely instill new life and inspiration in a tourist.

In order to promote the enormous tourism resources and to encapsulate the spirit of the region, West Bengal Tourism, in association with Sikkim Tourism and Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council, has been conducting East Himalayas Tourism Festival (known as Teesta Tea and Tourism Festival) every year. West Bengal Tourism, in association with Indian Railways, is contemplating to run a special train (The Dooars on Wheels) between Siliguri and Cooch Behar on special occasions so that tourists can easily access the Dooars and enjoy the abundant natural beauty and the spirit of the region.

Steps are on to declare the Dooars as a Special Tourism Area (STA) in collaboration with the ministry of tourism and culture, government of India.

Some of the major tourist attractions include Jayanti (30 km from Alipurduar) is a beautiful spot encircled by Jayanti River and hills around. Bhutanghat (45 km from Alipurduar) is famous for scenic beauty beside River Raidak bordering Bhutan. Buxa Fort (30 km from Alipurduar) is renowned for the ruins of the Detention Camp used by the British government for detaining freedom fighters. Rajabhatkhawa (15 km from Alipurduar) is attractive for the nature information center. Murti (72 km from Siliguri) beside Murti River is also known for the forest resort. Malbazar (52 km from Siliguri) has attractive tea gardens and scenic spots around and is a base of starting package tours to the hills and other places around. Teesta Barrage (57 km from Siliguri) is fast emerging and being developed as a tourist destination. Samsing (81 km from Siliguir via Chalsa) beside the Jaldhaka River is known for its scenic beauty, orange plantation and the forest resort. Finally, the Chilapata forest (20 km from Alipurduar) is a pleasant and exciting experience.

With a view to develop tourism infrastructure and disseminate information related to tourism in a comprehensive and well-directed manner, West Bengal has been divided into six tourist regions. One office has been set up in each of the Regional Headquarters. A Tourist Officer or an Assistant Tourist Officer has been entrusted with the charge of administration of the Regional Office. The Regional Offices have been asked to deal mainly in a) identifying new regional or local tourist spots and helping the district administration and the Tourism Department make infrastructure development (in tourism) with the support of RIDF or District Plan Fund.The West Bengal Tourism Development Corporation (WBTDC) has urged private promoters to participate in the tourism-related projects. In the State Plan, a sum of nearly Rs 1,41,99,000 has been proposed in the Tourism Department's budget for the financial year 2003-2004, mainly for the purpose of maintaining and developing the old tourist lodges and bringing forward new tourist spots and objects to the notice of tourists. The construction work of some new tourist lodges is currently underway. Some of the existing tourist lodges will be renovated. As part of the modernisation programme, the Tourism Department has taken up the scheme of computerisation of the bookings of the Tourist lodges through an online system. It is expected that the work would be completed by the financial year 2003-04.

The Government of India sanctioned two of the State's proposed projects in the year 2002-03. These are Destination Tourism-Bishnupur and Rural Tourism at Shantiniketan. Subsequently, the government of West Bengal has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Sahara India Pariwar for a large-scale eco-tourism project at Sunderbans. The department has also selected Gossaingaon in Cooch Behar district of the state, for its archeological importance and has requested the Centre for necessary funds. The state is also trying to develop the Dooars. To provide a further impetus to tourism in the state, a massive arts and crafts village has been constructed as well as an exhibition centre and an art gallery.

Siliguri is another important town of North Bengal is the gateway to the Dooars. The best way to reach the various destinations is to reach Siliguri first and then avail of the rail service or bus service or hire a car or a jeep as may be convenient. New Jalpaiguri, near Siliguri is well connected with daily rail services from Howrah. Staying and dining at the Dooars region is a different experience altogether. A number of well-equipped tourist lodges run by West Bengal Tourism Development Corporation (WBTDC) and West Bengal Forest Development Corporation (WBFDC), private hotels, guest houses, resorts etc are there to provide rest and comfort to tourists in varying budget ranges.

The Dooars region consist of the following important areas:

Jalpaiguri: The larger part of the Dooars valley comes under the Jalpaiguri district of the state. Innumerable rivers and their tributaries enhance the scenic beauty of the place. The Torsa, Kaljani, Raidak and Jaldhaka are tributaries of the Teesta River. A good place for peace, natural beauty and fishing-Jalpaiguri is well connected by road and rail.

Raiganj: The headquarters of the Uttar Dinajpur district, Raiganj is adjacent to NH-34, 425 km from Kolkata and enroute to Siliguri. The principal attraction of Raiganj is a vast and beautiful bird sanctuary on the bank of a small river named Kulik. This sanctuary provides home to thousands of migratory birds including Open-Billed Storks, Knight Herons, Egrets and Cormorants and indigenous birds as well. This single attraction draws thousands of tourists every year to Raiganj.

Siliguri: The most important town in this region, Siliguri is the nerve center of North Bengal. New Jalpaiguri (5 km from Siliguri) is an important railhead and is well connected with all the major cities of the country. Long distance bus routes operate from Siliguri connecting Kolkata and the neighbouring states including all major tourist destinations around. The quaint Toy Train run by Darjeeling Himalayan Railways awarded the world heritage status by UNESCO, starts its uphill journey to Darjeeling from Siliguri. There are several private hotels in the town.

Another major tourist attractions around Siliguri is the Mahananda Wildlife Sanctuary (18 km away near Sukna) well connected by buses and the Toy Train, is an ideal picnic spot and a site for bird-watchers and lovers of nature and eco-tourism, Salugara Monastery (6 km away), North Bengal Science Center, Science Park and the Taramandal at Matigara (6 km away), Madhuban Park (17 km away), Sevoke Coronation Bridge over Teesta is reminiscent of British excellence in design and architecture is 20 km from Siliguri. Kalijhora is a splendid picnic spot by the side of spectacular River Teesta (27 km away). Close by are Peshok, famous for the confluence of Teesta and Rangeet; Mongpu reminiscent of association of the place with Rabindranath Tagore; and Latpanchor is emerging as an excellent tourist destination.

By Joy Roy Choudhury