Kaziranga park: Charting its way along the tourism roadmap

March 30: If Manas National Park is spicing up its eco-tourism menu to attract more tourists, Kaziranga is about to add value to its infrastructure.

An interpretation centre is being set up at the Bagori range of Kaziranga, home to the largest population of the one-horned rhino, to help visitors know everything about the park. The Nagaon district administration is behind this welcome addition to Kaziranga’s tourism infrastructure.

The multi-storeyed building will come up on a 4,400 square feet plot off NH 37, which runs through Kaziranga. If everything goes according to plan, the centre will st-art functioning in December.

“This will solve the problems that visitors face before entering Kaziranga. The centre will answer their queries. I am hopeful that it will attract more foreign tourists,” deputy commissioner J. Balaji said.

A source in the district administration said the ground floor would be used for demon-strations and the first floor for video conferencing. “There will be three halls on the gro-und floor. Visitors will get the opportunity to know about the park’s wildlife wealth through photographs and video clippings. They will be informed about the wildlife species found in Kaziranga, its herbal resource base and different types of flowers and shrubs. The science behind climatic changes in the park will also be explained. The idea is to provide information in a simple but interesting way.”

Mukutmoni Saikia, the executive engineer in charge of construction, said the district administration deserved plaudits for undertaking the project with limited resources. “Our mission is to make the Kaziranga experience better. This project is a small part of this mission.”

The budget for the project is Rs 30 lakh. Deep Gogoi, the Lok Sabha member from Koliabor, will provide two-thirds of the project cost from the MP’s Local Area Development Fund. Bitapi Singha, an expert from the Wildlife Institute of India, is guiding the Nagaon administration in implementing the project.

Visitors will have to pay a nominal fee to enter the centre. A library-cum-reading hall will be set up on the first floor, where visitors will be able to access books on natural resources of the Northeast.