Tourist spots in Bandarban lack maintenance

Bandarban, a tourist city famous for its hills, is a place of immense potential for tourism crafts. This district is full of breathtaking scenarios and places. 

Many tourist Spots have been set up in collaboration with the district administration with the aim of creating a more intimate relationship with nature for the tourists who are thirsty for travel. Among these spots, ‘Nil Diganta’, a relatively new tourist spot has been established recently, located about 56 km from Bandarban District Headquarters. The current condition of this tourist center located in Jiban Nagar area of Thanchi Upazila is very fragile, mainly due to lack of proper maintenance, said the tourists visiting Bandarban. Rezaul Karim, who is visiting from Dhaka, has come to visit his family in Bandarban. While collecting information, he lamented that they have seen some tourist spots including Nilgiri and Nilachal. After hearing about the popular tourist spot in Bandarban called ‘Nil Diganta’, he left the Bandarban town very early in the morning to see the natural beauty. The points have attracted them a lot. If the authorities take appropriate measures, it can also become a popular tourist spot. It can be seen while collecting information on the ground that the locks on the main entrance to the tourist spot, the sight-seeing cottages built to attract tourists inside the tourist spot are closed, the various view points built to enjoy the natural beauty are unclean, the toilets built for visitors are also dirty, and there is no water supply. After waiting for an hour, it was not clear who was in charge of the maintenance. The new tourist center was inaugurated on 15th July 2017 with the help of district administration, upazila administration and Bangladesh Tourism Corporation for the entertainment of nature lovers. 

Thanchi Upazila Nirbahi Officer Ataul Gani Osmani was contacted in this regard. He said that concerned authorities have taken the issue more seriously. "We have already taken steps to fix the cottage and bathroom problems in the ‘Nil Diganta’ tourist spot. We have talked to the Bolipara Electricity Department about the connection of power lines and they have suggested setting up a transformer at the tourist spot to ensure adequate power supply at all times," he said. Talking to the authorities about the resumption of power supply on the 6-7 km power connection line from Balipara, the Deputy Commissioner Bandarban assured overall cooperation in this regard, he said, adding that although the issue of water supply management in the tourist center is complicated, they have taken steps to resolve it. “We have taken measures to supply water to the tourist center by motor from a water source about 8 km down the hill slope. Discussions have been held with the district public health engineering department in this regard. This work will also be implemented at the earliest”, he added. Upazila Nirbahi Officer Ataul Gani Osmani further said that although it was not possible at the end of this month, arrangements would be made to re-open the ‘Nil Diganta’ tourist spot for the visitors by April 10. According to the source, nature lovers who come to visit the tourist spot will be able to enjoy the beautiful scenery of "Nil Diganta" tourist spot while having tea and coffee while chatting with their loved ones at the view point.