Residents in Jhandi, a remote village in Kalimpong district, and some adjoining villages, who have set up home-stays and are doing good business, still remember Dr PD Bhutia, a medical practitioner and a Bangaratna Award recipient, as the pioneer of the rural tourism concept in their area that has brought about socioeconomic development there.

Hiran Chhetri, a resident of Suntaley near Jhandi under the Garubathan Block in Kalimpong, is one such homestay owner, and he says that he took inspiration from Dr Bhutia, who has also set up a property there. According to Mr Chhetri, Jhandi is a place where “tourists come to live with nature” and watch Mount Kanchenjungha, the “Sleeping Buddha,” during clear skies throughout the day, from dawn to dusk.

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“Dr PD Bhutia had explored the region first and then we came up with this idea recently, as the state government has also extended financial assistance for setting up a homestay business,” Mr Chhetri said. He, however, expressed
sadness at the plight of the local people, caused by a lack of infrastructure including good roads and hospitals and stressed on the need to develop roads and repair old ones, which were built by the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA).

Mr Chhetri, with a view to extending his business, has now also started a joint venture with another interested person in the tourism sector. A Kolkata-based man, Subham Poddar, who came to North Bengal for “some other business,” has now been developing a home-stay named ‘Esti Kutum’ at Suntaley, along with Mr Chhetri.

According to Mr Poddar, despite the Covid pandemic, tourists from different parts of Bengal are visiting the Hills, and that all his rooms are booked for the Pujas. Mr Poddar also pointed out to the bad condition of roads, which he said had reduced the flow of tourists in the area. According to him, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who frequently visits the Hills, should develop the roads so that tourists can roam around hassles-free.

Mr Poddar, in association with some others, including Sanjeev Chhetri and Rajen Pradhan, has been developing some destinations centering Jhandi and its adjoining areas, including a tea plantation and a waterfall. This group is also developing some camping tents for tourists in a nearby area. Mr Poddar has engaged a Nepali-speaking man, “who maintains the ecology” by disposing of plastics used by people, including tourists.

According to the man, besides traditional local food, as a maximum number of tourists are Bengalis, he also cooks Bengali food. Significantly, Nepalispeaking home-stay owners in the area are now adept in preparing Bengalis’ favourite food on demand-the daal, bhat and alu jhinge posto. Sanjeev Chhetri, who owns a home-stay called Sanjeevani, which is attached to his house at Upper Lungsel, Gorubathan, said he had to struggle a lot.

In fact, Mr Chhetri, though he was associated with a hotel in Siliguri, studied the homestay business and has attended many training programmes, both offline and online, in the past 10 years.

Interestingly, an electrician, who was rendered jobless by the pandemic, has also joined Sanjeevani as a help. He hails from Falakata in Alipurduar district. Home-stay owners here also say that they used to once face problems as, according to them, police used to harass them, seeking information about tourists.

“I send two forms online, separately, about detailed information of the domestic and foreign tourists to the police every day. I send them the blank form whenever I do not have guests,” said Sanjeev Chhetri. To attract tourists,
Mr Chhetri, who can speak Bengali fluently, has developed several destinations for trekking and hiking and a spot called Geet Khola, also called locally as the “three sister waterfalls,” and has highlighted on YouTube too.