TURA: Meghalaya Chief Minister visited the scenic Nokrek National Biosphere Reserve and Daribok village on its edge in West Garo Hills early Wednesday morning to inspect the sites selected for several tourism infrastructure and amenities that would pave the way for a boost in the tourist footfall.
Nokrek is home to the mother germoplasm of the fruit Citrus Indica (locally known as Memang Narang) which was discovered by science researchers within Nokrek range, several years ago, revealing to the world the abundance presence of various citrus fruits that could provide a gene pool for commercially produced citrus. It was this discovery which led to establishment of the National Citrus Gene Sanctuary-cum-Biosphere Reserve covering an area of 47 square kms.
“Visited the site for development of amenities in the foothills of Nokrek park. These are basically two projects, one is the Swadesh Darshan Scheme where we have sanctioned clsoe to Rs 28 Crores that will be put into Nokrek and another project worth about Rs 12-14 crores from the Tribal Affairs Ministry which will be for infrastructure of tourism also at Nokrek,” said Conrad K Sangma while speaking to The Shillong Times.
The chief minister added that Nokrek biosphere is a Unique Selling Point/Proposition (USP) of Meghalaya just as Umiam and Sohra is alongside many other places in the state. He also informed that work would start within the next two months on the tourism infrastructure and ought to be completed within a year’s time.
“Our vision is to make Nokrek a resort that people will come up with into a carbon neutral resort which will be the first in the state and probably in the region,” informed Conrad Sangma as he also mentioned that solar energy and waste management would also be a critical part of carbon free tourism at Nokrek.
To boost eco-tourism and at the same time encourage the villagers to preserve the fragile eco-system of the Nokrek biosphere, the government is providing training and facilities for the locals to be self-reliant and raise their economy through tourism related activities without causing destruction to the environment.
As part of the tourism project locals would be employed, local cuisine would be showcased and fruits and vegetables would be sourced from the area itself.
The chief minister also informed that traditional style log houses in sync with the natural surroundings of Nokrek will also be coming up and these would be funded by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs.