Plan to develop Hadoti as ‘thriving ecotourism site’
Home to a vibrant flora and fauna and with Chambal river flowing through it, the region comprising parts of Jhalawar, Kota, Baran and Bundi districts, has a huge tourism potential.
The largely unexplored Hadoti region of Rajasthan has the potential to turn several of its areas into thriving eco-tourism sites, environmentalists say.
Home to a vibrant flora and fauna and with Chambal river flowing through it, the region comprising parts of Jhalawar, Kota, Baran and Bundi districts, has a huge tourism potential.
While the forests in the region have thriving population of sloth bear, leopards, striped hyena, chinkara, nilgai (blue bull) and blackbuck, both crocodiles and ghariyals apart from a variety of snakes can be found in Chambal river.
Jhalawar district receives annual rainfall of more than 100 cm, has several seasonal rivers crisscrossing its terrain, and has ample scope for development as an excellent ecotourism site, district collector, Jitendra Kumar Soni said.
“For instance, there is Balinda ghat, a largely undiscovered spot where a river passes between two hills. The spot is surrounded by lush greenery. It is incredibly beautiful and if we make it accessible, it will be huge hit (with the tourists),” said Soni, who is also the district environment committee president.
Soni was speaking during a two-day conference organised by the Jhalawar district administration and the state forest department to deliberate upon ways to conserve biodiversity of the Hadoti region. The conference concluded on June 5.
Soni said that 225 species of birds were spotted in the past four months in Jhalawar alone. “The region around Gagron Fort, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is ideal for bird sighting,” he said, adding trekking tracks could be also be developed in some parts of the region.
The district administration has already developed the Baghel trekking track at a cost of ₹40 lakh, Soni said and added that two or three more such tracks would be developed in the district soon. The administration also got Khandiya Talaab and Gomti Sagar registered as wetlands.
Soni said the suggestions discussed in the conference will be sent to the chief minister’s office for implementing them on the ground level.