Watchtower at Rasamati tourist-spot

 

COOCH BEHAR, Aug. 2: State forest minister Mr Ananta Roy will inaugurate a new watchtower at Rasamati Jhil tourist-spot on Saturday to make the tourist-spot more attractive to the tourists and visitors. The Rasamati Jhil tourist spot was launched in last year to lure the picnickers and tourists who like to visit the beauty of nature especially during monsoon. Now the 60-metre watchtower is going to make it more attractive believes the forest minister.

 

The newly constructed watchtower will be able to allow about 200 visitors at a time to view the scenic beauty of Rasamati Jhil and adjacent forestland. It was erected with about Rs 10-lakh.

 

Not only the watchtower, a plan is also there to build up a nature observatory. The estimated cost to implement the plan is Rs 18-lakh. Cooch Behar MP (Rajya Sabha) Mr Tarini Roy agreed to extend Rs 10-lakh for the project from his Local Area Development fund.

 

Cooch Behar social forestry division officials expect that the newly built watchtower would be able to attract tourists to enjoy the monsoon surrounded by the greenery of Rasamati Jhil and forestland. To make their passage straight to the tower easy a way will be constructed. The tourists will have to go there by the vans provided by the local Forest Protection Committee, the DFO (SF) Mr Apurba Sen said.

 

It may be recalled here that a picnic cum tourist spot was inaugurated at Rasamati Jhil in Patlakhaoa of Cooch Behar in December. The picnickers get an opportunity here to see wild animals like leopards, deer, bison, peacocks and migratory birds in the adjacent jungle and wetland. Such opportunity is almost rare in other picnic spots in this region. Work to develop Rasamati Jhil as a picnic spot was started a few years ago. The plan behind this venture was promotion of tourism in this area. After completion of the total planned project the visitors and the picnickers will be able to enjoy pedal boating too in the large water-body of Rasamati Jhil.

 

The Patlakhaoa forest is not very far off from the spot. The visitors and nature lovers may get a glance of leopards, deer and peacocks in that forest. As the spot is at a distance of about 15-kilometre only from Cooch Behar town, it is an ideal place for weekenders to spend a day in the lap of nature "under the greenwood tree".

 

It was learnt that a suspension bridge and a few cottages would also be constructed at Rasamati Jhil to attract picnickers. The estimated total cost of the proposed project is Rs 1-crore. []