Eco-tourism at Chandaka soon

BHUBANESWAR: The eco-tourism project at Jhumka natural water body inside Chandaka wildlife sanctuary is likely to start from September.
Construction of three bamboo huts and toilets near the water body, which sprawls over 10 acre, has been completed. Road work to the project site and installation of lights will also get over soon, official sources said.
"We have planned sitting arrangements for tourists near Jhumka. There will be kitchens and boating facilities after September," said divisional forest officer (Chandaka) Manoj Mohapatra. He said the forest department would involve locals in the project by forming an 'eco-development community'.
"The local sarpanch will be head of the community. He will nominate a few selected villagers to handle the eco-tourism project. This will include overseeing parking of vehicles by tourists, cleaning, hospitality and providing necessary utensils to tourists for cooking," said Mohapatra.
He said the forest department would provide funds for the project and would only play a supervisory role.
To ensure that community members benefit from the project, we will charge Rs 500 a day from tourists for their stay in the hut. "From the revenue generated, we will provide fixed sum as salary to the community members depending on the job assigned," said Mohapatra.
He hoped that after the eco-tourism site becomes fully functional, it will witness a footfall of around 10,000 tourists a year. "We have already spent Rs 10 lakh on the project. For the remaining work, another Rs 10 lakh will be spent," said the DFO.
A team of forest and tourism departments had visited the sanctuary on August 1, 2013, to study the feasibility of an eco-tourism project at Chandaka.