Kolkata: Darjeeling has become India’s first hill station to get an exclusive park for mountain bikers in the country.
“Darjeeling gets the first of kind facility where even professional mountain bikers along with ametuers can train for this adventure sports,” said Darjeeling district magistrate Anurag Srivastava.
Adventure sports such as trekking, rock climbing, zorbing, paragliding and white-river rafting are already popular in the hill station of West Bengal and authorities believe that this facility is going add to its attraction.
“This stretch in Chatakpur of around 20-km inside the Senchel wildlife sanctuary will be used only by mountain cyclists. Cyclists will be allowed in a stretch we have identified inside the wildlife sanctuary where no vehicle will be allowed. We believe adventure tourism has huge potential in this area and it will boast tourism of the state from all over India and even from foreign countries,” Srivastava added. Chatakpur is situated at 6,800 feet above sea level and is about 20km from Darjeeling town
Srivastava and Amit P Javalgi, Darjeeling superintendent of police, led the rally of 25 mountain cyclists from the centre of the town which saw lot of enthusiastic participation from locals and even to tourist.
Local administration is developing other facilities for mountain biking including accommodation for tourists.
The forest division of the district has already set up two cottages in Chatakpur. Homestays are also being organised with villagers from Chatkapur.
“Presently we can accommodate around 20 tourist staying in that area including the two cottages which has two rooms each,” said a senior official of the administration.
Several adventure sports companies have come up in the area which is offering such facilities to tourists and locals alike.
“We are offering places like Chatakpur, Pokhribong, Lamahatta, Kurseong and Manebhanjyang through cycle trails. These facilities will certainly boost tourism in the area,” said SL Tamang, of Off Beat Travels.
“Cycling has become very popular among locals and the facility to train will help generate enthusiasm among many locals who wants to participate in competitions outside India,” Tamang added.
