New Town will soon offer glimpses of rural life in its midst. A model village is being built at Eco Tourism Park that would bring city folk closer to nature.

“Work on the village has started and would be completed by December. Thereafter people will be able to get a feel of village life without stepping out of the city,” said Debashis Sen, the chairman and managing director of Hidco that is in charge of Eco Park.

The village is coming up on a three-acre plot near the bamboo garden and lake of Eco Park. It will have around 40 mud huts with thatch and hay roofs. They are being based on villages seen in different districts of Bengal and the village will also have around 70 “villagers”, made of fibre and clay.

There will be a tulsi mancha, a chariot and a palanquin complete with bearers. Children will even be able to get actually take a ride on the palanquin. One end of the village will have real paddy growing as well as statues of farmers in various poses of working in the fields.

A restaurant shaped like a dhamsa — a tribal folk percussion instrument typical of Bengal — will also be built that will serve Bengali delicacies from various districts. The entrance of the village has already been built and giant hand-fans have been put up with folk motifs printed on them.

This is not the first theme zone built in Eco Park. It also has a mock rainforest, a mask garden, a tea garden and scenes from the Ghoom station in Darjeeling.

Pictures by 
Sanjoy Chattopadhyaya

 

ECO URBAN VILLAGE LANGUISHES FOR LACK OF FOOTFALL, ACTIVITIES

While news of the model village at Eco Park has been welcomed by most, residents of New Town’s Action Area 2B are a tad upset. They live close to Eco Urban Village (EUV), another recreational hub developed by Hidco, but which they claim has not garnered the attention that it should have.

“I remember how excited we were when EUV had opened. We had thought it would have lots of activities but it never really took off. I myself am coming here today for the first time since winter,” said a resident of the Mallika Malancha complex opposite the Village last Friday, asking not to be named.

The back story

Eco Urban Village had opened in end-2015 ahead of the Owl crossing. It is a roughly 15 acre plot built around a 15-acre natural lake, that is the largest in the township after the 112-acre one at Eco Park. The focus here is on natural beauty and so most structures are made of bamboo and hay. The park is promoted as a picnic spot and a bird-watchers’ paradise and in winters many a group comes here to relax. It’s the rest of the year when, locals say, it lacks activity.

“Why will anyone come when there is nothing to do here? They don’t even have tea stalls inside,” says Stuti Sarkar, a resident of the nearby Hiland Willows complex. “As for the model village coming up in Eco Park, they could have built it here. That would have drawn footfall.”

Others offer ambitious ideas like ropeways, trams or toy trains from Eco Park to EUV, as well as organic vegetable markets, yoga and karate classes. “We appreciate the weekend fairs that take place here once in a while but we need something permanent to draw regular crowds. What about a kids’ centre with rock climbing, bouncy castles and camping?” suggests Anuradha Biswas of Mallika Malancha.

The staffers at the Village hope for activities too. “There is a double-decker bus that plies between Eco Park and EUV fetching tourists who peep out of the window and ask: ‘Ekhane ki achhey?’ After coming from Eco Park who would like to visit a park that barely has anything. The tourists don’t even step out of the bus. We feel so bad to see them leave,” says a security guard, Endadul Haq Mondal.

In monsoon, angling and boating are out of bounds too. The post-GST prices of tickets are Rs 30 each.

Jhuma Roychoudhury, who sits at the ticket counter, says they have provision for a yearly pass for morning walkers but it has not found any takers. The staff proudly shares that last winter more than 100 groups had come for picnic. But after that the crowd count is down to as low as 20, 10 or even four people a day.

Otherwise, the park is well-maintained, with the lawn manicured and the cottages picturesque. The water body is clean too but villagers access it from the other end, using it for bathing and washing. “We have a tubewell near our house but this lake is so much prettier. So we come here to bathe, wash clothes and dishes instead,” says Salma Khatun, a teenager who lives nearby.

The Telegraph Salt Lake saw auto drivers take jerrycans of water out of the lake to wash their autos parked on the road but residents of the complexes say they have seen autos being driven up to the lake to be washed too. “During morning walks I have also seen dead fish floating on the water,” says a lady from Hiland Willows.

Official word

Debashis Sen, chairman cum managing director of Hidco, says they he too is concerned about non-winter activities at EUV. “The main problem is that 70 per cent flats in the nearby complexes are still vacant so footfall cannot be robust. We’ve built a market there too but shop-owners say there’s no one to buy from there and so they do not want to open up,” he says.

He adds that they are ready to support any fairs or similar events that residents might want to organise there. “They had approached us for a Rathyatra at EUV this year and we had encouraged it. But it didn’t materialise. On September 1, 2 and 3 senior citizens are holding a pre-puja fair at Swapno Bhor senior citizens’ park. We would love it if residents of AA2B hold similar activities at EUV.”

As for food stalls within the Village, Sen says the infrastructure is ready. “When the Village was built we had planned to evict the unauthorised stalls from the footpath outside and rehabilitate them inside. But a dispute has arisen as newer stall-owners want to be accommodated inside too. Once this is sorted out the huts inside will open,” says Sen, adding that he would ensure no pollution takes place in the lake. “Bathing is not a problem; people bathe in the Ganges too. But washing clothes and utensils will not be allowed.”

Sen says he loved the idea of the ropeway between Eco Park and EUV and two ropeway companies operating in Bengal had been sounded out. “But both backed out. They want to built a ropeway within Eco Park but we don’t want more construction there. Neither has shown interest in a ropeway between Eco Park and EUV.”

BRINDA SARKAR