Pests Not Invited

AT the height of 7,500 feet, on the Ramgarh-Mukteshwar road towards Nainital, is the village of Supi-Bhatiliya. It turned organic about thre...

AT the height of 7,500 feet, on the Ramgarh-Mukteshwar road towards Nainital, is the village of Supi-Bhatiliya. It turned organic about three years ago and has now become a success story for the Uttaranchal government.

Even as the village is now been considered for certification, the state government and the Uttaranchal Organic Commodity Board plan to promote the village and a few others just like it, even further.

Calling it a spin-off from the organic movement, these two villages will now be an 8216;8216;ideal place for people looking for a sabbatical8217;8217;, says the Board8217;s officiating secretary Binita Shah.

The move comes at a time when the State government is envisioning an Uttaranchal which will be completely organic by 2006. Many of the 600-odd villages which have already converted to organic are currently going through the certification process. And these villages, the Board believes can also be used to promote tourism.

The bio-villages, Shah says, are currently governed by a project 8216;Bio-village: Macro Mode Agriculture Department8217;. She adds, 8216;8216;Besides Supi-Bhatiliya we have identified Siyath village near Nainital for this purpose. The two communities have been trained in hospitality management.8217;8217;

To make a city-wallah or the foreign tourist eager to know more about the organic movement in the state more comfortable, the Board has also helped the villagers install a bathroom.

8216;8216;Solar heaters have also been put in place along with sleeping bags and white sheets,8217;8217; Shah says adding that the villagers have also been taught how to communicate with the tourists.

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The visitors have already started. 8216;8216;Recently we had a Swedish group staying at one of these villages. They stayed there for two days, lived like the villagers, ate their food and saw their organic farms. At the end of the visit, as they were leaving, they paid 25 per group. The villagers were extremely happy. After all it is a lot of money for them,8217;8217; Shah says.

She adds that enquiries have been coming in ever since and two schools from Delhi as well as the Doon School have shown a keen interest in participating in this programme.

But Shah is hesitant to label this programme a commercial exercise. She says, 8216;8216;This is not a commercial project. The visitors however will be expected to pay a minimal charge to the villagers who will not only be taking care of them, but also feeding them.8217;8217;

About 600 villages in Uttaranchal have converted to organic. The state wants to develop these bio-villages as ideal spots for people looking for a sabbatical

Instead, she calls this project more of an 8216;8216;outreach programme8217;8217;. While trying to link this outreach programme with the organic food movement, she says so far 2,000 consumers in Delhi have shown interest in procuring organic food. Once the food is launched in the market, Shah says that they will try to link the consumers with the villages.

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Another advantage, officials believe is that most of these bio-villages are strategically located either in the mountainous regions of the state or in the forest belts. They add that the visitor could join the village in not only its social and cultural activities but also work on the organic farms for an up close look. The food of course, they say, will be the local organic produce.