Nayagarh/Gania: Proper management of the Satkosia Sand Resort under the state sponsored ecotourism scheme at Manganasi under Gania block in Nayagarh district has made the residents of Muduligadia village self-reliant and financially stable.
The village has a population of 120 people comprising 35 families. The families get approximately 10% of the total annual revenue earned by the resort. The resort while providing revenue to the state exchequer has also contributed in increasing the funds of the village committee.
With earnings ensured, the lives of the residents of Muduligadia have changed considerably. Earlier they were plagued by a number of problems including water scarcity. However, all that has disappeared now. They had lodged complaints with the BDO, dictrict collector and public representatives over the problems they faced.
However, those were not looked into. However, the establishment of the sand resort has given the villagers a new lease of life. Sources said Tuesday that the state has two tiger reserve projects namely Similipal and Satkosia. Both have been given the status of ‘Royal Bengal Tiger Habitats’ by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA).
The ‘Satkosia Tiger Reserve’ constitutes of two forest divisions namely ‘Satkosia Wildlife Division’ on one side of Mahanadi river in Angul district and the ‘Mahanadi Wildlife Division’ in Nayagarh district. To increase the tourist footfalls in Odisha, the government developed ecotourism projects in 18 districts and established 48 sand resorts (nature camps).
The Satkosia Sand Resort at Manganasi in Nayagarh district is one of them. The sand resort became operational in FY 2014-15. Initially bookings had to be done on offline mode. However, from 2015-16 online bookings started.
Since then revenues have grown steadily for the resort. In 2015-16, 275 tourists visited the site helping the resort earn `2.90 lakh. The revenues during the following fiscals were: `19.35 lakh (FY 2016-17, 1,352 tourists), `58.79 lakh (FY 2017-18, 2,702 visitors), `1 crore (FY 2018-19, 4,449 tourists), `1.09 crore (FY 2019-20, 4,807 visitors), `1.20 crore (FY 2020-21, 4,529 visitors) and `1.23 crore (FY 21-22, 5,180 tourists).
Sources said that the residents of the village have so far earned `42 lakh since the inception of the resort and have spent over `22 lakh for developing the village. Close to `8.50 lakh have been spent for installation of a drinking water facility and `5 lakh for the construction of a temple.
Currently a community hall is being built in the village at a cost of `2.30 lakh. When contacted, Sumant Kumar Das, president of ‘Maa Sata Bhauni Paribesh Vikash Samiti’ said 26 persons from the village work at the resort during the tourist season.
However, during the lean season the number comes down to nine. The villagers can avail of interest-free loan of `15,000 from the authorities of the resort to engage in various revenuegenerating activities like farming during the off season.
PNN