Narbula: Helping hand

Darjeeling, Dec. 20: It?s village tourism in the truest sense.

Faced with a bleak future and no source of sustenance, residents of Sidrapong, a half- an-hour drive from here, have embarked on a mission to turn their village into another tourist destination.

The hamlet boasts of Asia?s oldest hydel station, which was built in 1897, and the villagers? plans to attract tourists revolve around this historic, but mostly neglected, heritage structure.

The hydel project was accorded heritage status in 1997 by the Centre.

?There are only 16 families in Sidrapong and most of them are settlers whose forefathers worked in this hydel station. Of late, recruitment to the hydel station has been freezed and the villagers have no work,? said Suraj Sharma, who is helping the residents draw up the village tourism plan.

Currently, tourists visiting Sidrapong can only book the inspection bungalow of West Bengal State Electricity Board, which had taken over the hydel station from Darjeeling Municipality in 1978. ?The village gets tourists, but they come only for a day. We want to create an infrastructure so visitors can halt for the night. This will give a boost to the local economy as residents will either be engaged in supplying organic vegetable or employed in some other way,? said Sharma.

The DGHC has started widening the road leading to Sidrapong and Dawa Narbula, the Darjeeling MP, has announced a sum of Rs 1 lakh for repair of the foot bridges in the area.

With tea gardens like Arya and Orange Valley dotting the landscape, the residents who had formed Rastriya Sampad Surakshan Samity for preservation of the hydel station have started work for the village tourism project.

?Villagers have started digging a fish pond in the area and we are also exploring a trekking trail. Other tourist spots like Gangamaya and the Rock Garden are only a 15- minute walk from Sidrapong. We will also target local people so that they visit these places of interest during the weekends,? said Sharma.

Jiwan Bhandari, the secretary of the samity, said all funds, including those sanctioned from the MPs quota, for the project would be used through a cooperative system.

?We want the villagers to do the job and there will be no question of anyone raking in profits,? said Bhandari.

The USP of the place will be Sidrapong Hydel Power Station and though it is not functioning to its full capacity ? there are only four employees against the initial strength of 20 in the early eighties ? the villagers maintained that it would be protected at all costs.

?The station was commissioned on November 10, 1897, and to this day the villagers have played a pivotal role in preserving the historical structure. We, however, believe that unless the people are economically well-off, it will be difficult to preserve it. We hope our efforts to make the villagers self-sufficient will bear fruit,? added Sharma.

The co-ordinators of the project are also looking towards introducing meter garden for cultivation of vegetables and roping in experts for the purpose.