As State police sees immense tourism potential in the Maoist hit Saranda forests, the locals of West Singhbhum have welcomed the move, claiming it to be an unexplored place, located deep inside the lap of nature. According to the locals if developed, Saranda forests will prove to be a natural abode to those who love nature.
“As it has remained unexplored over the years, Saranda forests have an immense tourism potential in it, as it is surrounded by natural beauty and hundreds of hillocks,” said Manjusha Ganguli, proprietor of Santoor Resorts at Manoharpur. The resort was established by Manjusha’s husband AbhijeetGanguli in 2002 which is now at the verge being closed due to the lack of support and encouragement from the Government. With DGP Rajiv Kumar, during his visit to Saranda, announcing that the place will be developed as a tourist spot, Manjusha’s dream of developing the place as a centre of eco-tourism has got a new lease of life.
“People want to come to this place, but we are not able to encourage them due to several obvious reasons and if government takes an initiative in this direction, this place could be converted into heaven for the tourists,” Ganguly said.Despite having Naxal threat, people from West Bengal and other adjoining areas are still coming to the place and enjoy the untouched beauty of the place. They however, do not go inside deep into the jungles and could see only the peripheries of the forests.
According to Ganguli, if given better facilities by the government, people here will benefitted with an extra source of income through tourism.Initially, before the dominance of CPI (Maoists) in the area, the place used to attract several tourists from across the Country, but as the increase of Naxal threat in the area, it witnessed a sudden decline in the number of visitors.District Police officials also believe that the place, if ensured security, could be developed a tourist spot. “Yes, the place has natural scenic beauty, which needs to be nurtured in a better way through various means like security and spreading awareness among the locals,” said Chaibasa SP Pankaj Kamboj.
According to Kamboj, there are several places like Khalthabor and Digha which could be developed into tourist spots after ensuring security by setting up a police stations.DGP Rajiv Kumar was on a two day visit of the area, carrying out ‘Operation Aman’ in the Maoist-hit Saranda to build a sense of confidence among the people of the region.With over 700 hillocks and biggest pristine sal forests of Asia, Saranda is a paradise for tourists. But left wing extremism has forced the place to remain unexplored till date not letting the state government extend the scope or tourism in the area.
The DGP also held police meet to some of the dreaded villages where no any such meeting was ever held due to the disturbances caused by the CPI (Maoists) in the area. The DGP during his visit had said that community policing will soon be carried out in the remote parts of Saranda in order to win confidence of the people.The credit also goes to the Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh for launching Saranda Development Plan (SDP) to flush out the CPI (Maoists) from the area. Ramesh, with the support of the Jharkhand government, launched the programme in January 2012.
Ramesh during his visits to the area after the initiatives were taken, the Minister had handed over cheques, bicycles, solar lights and transistors to the villagers and took several steps to improve road connectivity and a building an Integrated Development Centre at Digha village. Saranda region constitutes around 7,000 tribal households with a population of over 36,500 in 56 villages. Out of the them, 14 are deep inside the forests, 10 are still remains without survey while the rest are revenue villages.