The Sunderbans in the delta of the Ganges in West Bengal plans to introduce home stay in order to improve tourism

Chief minister Mamata Banerjee is keen to introduce home stay in a big way. She looks at this as a development tool for the proposed Sunderbans district. This would be carved out from the districts of North and South 24-Parganas. The delta consists of 54 small islands. Here job opportunities are limited and main means of livelihood are fishing and crab hunting. In order to generate alternative livelihood for these people, the Bengal government plans to exploit the region’s tourism potential. It wants to do this through homestays with financial support from the administration. The chief minister, during a public meeting, said “I am trying to bring tourists here…. I have inaugurated nine jetties today (Tuesday) to explore river connectivity so that tourists can come.” She went on to advise residents to set up homestays. This is a facility gaining popularity with tourists in north Bengal. Her advice was - “Take one room in your home and turn it into a homestay accommodation so that tourists can stay. This will help local youths to earn a living.” Mamata advocates for homestay to boost Sunderbans tourism.

She described home stay as gharoa hotel and assured - “They (tourists) can spend a night at your home. We will give you money so that a bio-toilet is installed as well as a cot and a television set. Tourists will pay you for lodging and food in the way they pay for staying in big hotels.” She added that “this is one of the many initiatives that I have planned for you.”

Some popular stories of this blogger –

Mauna Loa volcano, the world’s largest active volcano, erupts for the first time in nearly four decades

UNESCO want to assign endangered status to the Great Barrier Reef, Australia does not agree

Police in Alberta, Canada, chase ostriches escaped from their enclosure, one of the birds killed when hit by a car

President Tsai Ing-wen of Taiwan quits as head of the governing Democratic Progressive Party after loss in election

International Space Station to grow tomatoes, SpaceX will carry the seeds

Kim Jong-un seen in public with his daughter, speculations are rife on her future

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle might not attend this year’s Christmas celebrations in Sandringham

Democrats retain control of the US Senate

Police arrest a student of University of Virginia suspected of shooting dead three football players of the school