Village Tourism: Sikkim Govt gives nod to home stay funding

Gangtok, March 4, 2013:

The State government has given a nod for the construction of two additional rooms in 720 houses in the entire four districts primarily to promote village tourism and home stays in Sikkim.

“Out of 720 houses the construction work for the 400 houses has been already started and the remaining would commence soon.  The two rooms will be built at the cost of Rs 7 lakhs each,” Secretary, Tourism and Civil Aviation department, KS Topgay said.

The secretary informed that the work of the construction has been awarded to the cooperative societies of the respective villages where the homestays and village tourism has been flourishing. He said the selection of the beneficiaries will be done by the panchayats of the respective wards.

“The name of the beneficiary has to be passed in the Gram Sabha after the consensus of the villagers and the Panchayats,” said, adding that the funding of the project would be done partially by the Centre fund and rest from the State government fund. He further informed that the Central government is also trying to promote village tourism in different States of India, for which fund will be allocated for the construction of the home stays.

Village tourism, Topgay opined is also one of the methods to bridge the gap between the village and the urban people through economic bindings and that the youth of Sikkim should grab the opportunity. “Village tourism is emerging as one of the most potential tourism industries in Sikkim, and the State government is leaving no stone unturned in making involved the people of Sikkim in this business” he added. The home stays are already operational in places such as Darap in West Sikkim, Assam Linzey in East Sikkim and Dzongu in North Sikkim.

Sikkim Express