The next time you head for the Sundarbans, your chances of sighting the feline are high. Keeping in mind the common tourist grouse of not sighting a tiger in the islands, the West Bengal government is planning to develop a tiger rescue centre at Jharkhali, Sundarbans. A tourism hub having necessary amenities such as a guest house and food joints will also be developed near the centre.
A rescue centre refers to a sanctuary-like area where tigers are kept in a protected natural environment.
“We have planned to build a tiger rescue centre at Jharkhali as part of making a tourist attraction destination at Sundarbans,” Ms Pritha Sarkar, Managing Director, West Bengal Tourism Development Corporation (WBTDC), told reporters here on Wednesday. She was addressing a meeting on opportunities in tourism in Bengal organised by city-based Bengal National Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Along with other development programmes in the tidal mangrove forest, the state tourism department is exploring options to convert the fishing trawlers into houseboats for tourists.
WBTDC is also mulling deployment of vessels to start one-day package trips from Kolkata to Gangasagar, she added.
Tourist Hub in Hills
Ms Sarkar said the state tourism department issued an expression of interest for developing a tourist hub spread over 200 acres of land at Gajoldoba off Siliguri in Jalpaiguri district.