Tourism goes down the falls
- Funds and plans galore, but no one to implement it OUR CORRESPONDENT
Nagaon Site to behold: Panimur waterfalls Aug. 3: A Google
search on Panimur yields 20 hits but only one faded picture of the gushing
waterfalls in North Cachar Hills, one that could have easily given the
much-visited Kaziranga national park a run for its money.
Google, of course, cannot be blamed.
The district administration has done its best to keep this breathtaking falls
out of the itineraries of tourists.
This is despite the fact that the falls is steeped in history, mythology and,
of course, natural beauty.
Surrounded by lush forests, the Panimur falls, with a little marketing, could
have easily become the climax spot where the Hindi film hero deals the final
punch to the villain. Or, one where the chiffon-clad heroine splashes through a
rocky riverbed.
Picture perfect and seductive the falls, that is.
And if local villagers are to be believed, Panimur was the stage where the
final act of Assams very own Oedipus story albeit with a twist was played
out.
Princess Dishru, according to Dimasa legend, jumped to her death from Panimur
after king Hari Ram ordered her to be exiled.
Not knowing that Dishru was his daughter, Hari Ram proposed to marry her.
When he came to know the truth, the king took the decision in a fit of rage,
said a local Dimasa youth in Umrangsu.
Years of neglect now makes Panimur look perfect as just that a suicide spot.
Except for a forest beat office at the entrance, there is nothing at Panimur
falls to make it palatable or even comfortable for tourists.
Till a few years back, the falls was a popular picnic spot for local
residents, but thanks to militancy and lack of security, it wears an abandoned
look.
In 2005, the North Cachar Hills administration received financial approval
for a Rs 5.67-crore eco-tourism project, which was a part of the districts Rs
45-crore Rastriya Sama Vikash Yojana.
A sum of Rs 19 lakh was proposed to be allocated to build an angling spot in
Panimur.
An inspection bungalow for tourists, a control-room-cum office, at least a
dozen rubber boats and a well-equipped angling spot were part of the plan.
Though the district administration received the lions share of the project
fund, villagers at Umrangsu allege that Panimur has not seen any construction
so far.
The jungles around the falls have made it almost impossible to navigate.
Nobody can dare visit the place except in February when Dimasas go there for a
holy bath.
Right now, there is just a Shiv temple and a dilapidated bathroom constructed
several years ago, said a village headman.
And if anybody needed a final word on the areas tourism potential, a local
villager summed it up.
Had Dispur taken a serious look at the tourist potential of these spots,
North Cachar Hills might have been an internationally popular haunt for nature
lovers. But nobody has the time to monitor the progress of the projects taken
up by the local administration, said a Hmar villager at Maibong.
Tourism potential is flowing down the falls, literally.
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