Kalimpong leg of Hill tourism festival opens

SNS, KALIMPONG/ KURSEONG, 29 DECEMBER 2017: As the Kalimpong leg of the Teesta Rangeet tourism Festival kicked off here today. Chairman of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) board of administrators, Binay Tamang, said no programmes/ events are successful unless they go through some form of criticism.

He was referring to the criticism and condemnation pouring in from certain quarters on the festival being organized in the Hills. While the GTA and the state government have been claiming that the Hills need the fest to give the ailing tourism industry the much-needed boost, some parties have been claiming that it should not have been celebrated' as, according to them, the Hills are still mourning the loss of lives during the recent Gorkhaland agitation.

"No programme will be successful without criticism; emotions alone won't work and we need to see the logic when emotions win over logic, a defeat is foreseen," Mr Tamang said, as he opened the festival at the Mela Ground here.

As he spoke, he urged the people not to get emotional about anything, as, according to him, emotions have mined many things in the past, including the statehood agitation.

"The Hills are tourism destination. There are tourism hubs, but the flow of tourists has gone down drastically, because of some political reasons. Now that peace has been restored in the Hills, we have opened the way for the tourists. We are organizing this festival in the entire GTA area to send across this very message among the tourists," Mr Tamang said.

Talking about the rivers Teesta and Rangeet in the hills, he interestingly announced that the two rivers would be made plastic /polythene-free and alcohol-free zones.

The GTA board chief also vowed to promote and develop religious places, ecotourism, and adventure tourism on the outskirts of Kalimpong. It is learnt that these plans fall under a special project being undertaken by the GTA.

On his way to Kalimpong to open the festival, Mr Tamang stopped by the Teesta Rangeet confluence to inaugurate angling there. Mr Tamang, however, later said that it is very important to conserve fishes at the confluence. He added that the GTA has written to the National Geographic Society-to conduct a study on the fish species found there.

Meanwhile, the festival that opened in Kurseong in Darjeeling yesterday ended today with different tourism related programmes, including paragliding and Toy train joy rides.

The event in Kurseong had kicked off in the presence of the vice-chairman of the GTA board, Anit Thapa, Kurseong SDO Debashish Chattopadhyay, and Kurseong SDPO Pinaki Dutta. 

Chief guest of the event, Dr Rohit Sharma, the MLA, inaugurated all the programmes there. The tourism industry here was hit by the recent three month-long shutdown and agitation. As tourism is one of the main stays of the Darjeeling economy, we decided to organize the tourism festival across the GTA area with the help of the state government. We want to spread a message among the tourists that everything is okay now and that peace is back in the Darjeeling Hills,- Mr Thapa said.

Mr Thapa also said that some persons in Siliguri have been demanding money from people by calling them on their mobile phones and introducing themselves as his associates. "If anyone receives such phone calls in the future, they should immediately inform the police,- he said.