First tourism blueprint for Darjeeling

Darjeeling, Nov. 7: The state government has brought in RITES to draw up a comprehensive tourism master plan for Darjeeling in the next two months, the first such effort for the Queen of the Hills.

Mamata Banerjee’s decision to come up with the master plan is probably propelled by her announcement to turn Darjeeling into Switzerland.

The chief minister had made the promise during her visit to the hills in September last year, months before she was voted to power.

The survey comes at a time when both the state government and the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, signatories to the agreement to set up a new administrative arrangement for the hills, seem to be in a hurry to start some development projects in the region.

Soon after signing the agreement for the formation of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration, Morcha chief Bimal Gurung had brought architects from Delhi to see what they had to say about increasing the tourism prospects of Darjeeling.

RITES, under the aegis of the railways which was formerly under Mamata and now under another Trinamul minister, offers consultancy services and has agreed to draw up the master plan for a fee of Rs 64 lakh.

Jitu Sharma, an economist with RITES, said work had started on the project. “We are preparing a master plan for the tourism sector and our people are visiting existing tourist sites and are inspecting potential niches that can be developed,” Sharma said over the phone from Gurgaon.

Representative of RITES are also interviewing individuals from across the hills to know their opinions on what they want. “We will also hold a meeting with the district officials on November 10,” said Sharma.

The master plan will be chalked out according to the findings of the survey but RITES is known to have expertise in implementing tourism-related projects too, including setting up of ropeways, urban planning and marketing. In fact, RITES, has operational experience of working in 62 countries in Africa, Southeast Asia, West Asia and Latin America.

RITES is looking at completing the master plan within the next two months. “We should be able to come up with the plan in the next two to three months,” said Sharma.

The district administration too is working on a war footing to come up with projects in the hills. The Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council, which is soon to be replaced by the GTA, has already floated a tender to build a multi-level car parking near Darjeeling Government College, the cost of which is likely to touch the Rs 17-crore mark.

The DGHC has also started the process of floating tenders for construction of another car park along NH55 near the District Reserve Centre godown and for an open-air theatre at the Janga Bahadur Park at the Mall or Chowrastha, Darjeeling’s famous promenade.

“The open-air theatre is part of the beautification plan for the Mall but I cannot tell you the total cost of the projects till the tender process are completed,” said DGHC administrator Anil Verma. The district administration has also sanctioned Rs 3 crore for the upgrade of the Gorkha Stadium at Lebong.