Daringbadi: Widely known as the ‘Kashmir of Odisha’, Daringbadi, a hill station town located about 3,200 ft above the sea level in Kandhamal district, has also got a special recognition for a coffee garden spreading across hectares, a report said.
During the British rule, there was a British officer named Daring Saheb who was in charge of this place. This place was named after him, with Badi meaning village. More than 50 per cent of the population here belongs to scheduled tribe communities.
While there are several spots of tourist attractions in the town, the coffee garden alone draws thousands of visitors. The period between September and March is known as the peak time of the year when the footfall is most in the area.
Apart from the coffee garden, other major attractions of the town include Nature Park, Hill View Park, Emu birds, Prakruti Lovers’ Point, Midubanda waterfall of Dasingbadi and Duluri pine forest.
While the tourist destinations are under the control of Daringbadi block administration, coffee plantation programme comes under the watershed project authorities of the state government.
Though the climate is conducive for coffee plantation, the government doesn’t take any measure to expand the garden which has irked the locals.
While coffee is cultivated in 57.03 hectares of land at Kilabadi, it is grown in 23.10 hectares at Pliheri in the block. Black pepper is also widely farmed in several hectares in the block.
Meanwhile, the department is collecting Rs 5 from each tourist for making a round of the coffee garden and it has so far collected Rs 1,52,000 on this account, said in-charge Pramod Kumar Digal.
However, many tourists raised questions over the collection of fees as the department doesn’t offer any facilities to visitors.
“Neither there is a toilet, nor drinking water facility for tourists. The department has not made arrangement of even a chair for our comfort,” lamented a sightseer.
The watershed project authorities said the fees are collected from visitors on the direction of the Collector.