Eco-tourism helps tribal youths in Asifabad

Six from Mandaguda engaged in maintaining waterfalls in Tiryani mandal

Kumram Bheem Asifabad: A first of its kind eco-tourism committee set up by the State Forest department has helped a group of six tribal youngsters from the Mandaguda village in Tiryani mandal turn entrepreneurs without much investment.

Till last year, these youngsters used to roam around the Chintalamadara waterfalls in Tiryani, which is thronged by tourists and nature lovers belonging from the erstwhile Adilabad district, Peddapalli, Jagtial districts and even from Maharashtra. At that time, they never thought the waterfall had an employment opportunity in it for them.

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This year, six of them – Porkata Arjun, Sikram Shankar, Sikram Tulsiram, Naitham Anand, Naitham Vinod and Kumram Nagesh – from Chintalamadara and Mandaguda, aged between 20 years and 30 years, were selected as members of an eco-tourism committee formed for maintaining the seasonal waterfalls as per a suggestion from the in-charge District Forest Officer G. Dinesh Kumar and the then Ginnedhari Forest Range Officer T Pranay. The committee, a first of its kind initiative, was to manage the waterfall from July to November 1. And those five months changed the way the youngsters saw the waterfall.

“The committee registered a revenue of Rs 2.06 lakh by just maintaining the waterfalls, collecting fees from visitors and parking charges, with around 60,000 visitors reaching the spot in these five months. The income was used for giving a salary of Rs.6,000 per month to the members while the remaining funds were to be spent for further developing the waterfall as a tourism spot,” said Thumram Gopal, chairman of the committee.

While three of the youngsters were posted as guards at the waterfall to prevent accidents, two were fielded at a toll plaza near the tourist spot and one was deployed at the parking lot. The chairman would occasionally inspect the waterfalls and supervise the functioning of the committee, which worked from 9 am to 6 pm.

The committee initially laid an earthen road from the outskirts of the village till the waterfall through National Rural Employment Guarantee Act for the convenience of motorists and visitors. Repairs of the road were taken up and safety measures such as an iron fence were created with the help of funds sanctioned by ITDA-Utnoor Project Officer K Varun Reddy and Additional Collector Chahat Bajpai.

The ETC collected Rs.100 for allowing visitors to park a car and Rs.20 for a two-wheeler, while Rs.30 was charged from each tourist to visit the waterfalls. “It played a vital role in maintaining the waterfalls as the members found temporary employment and income as well,” Dinesh Kumar said.