Alipurduar: Residents of Panijhora, a remote Tribal hamlet located in West Bengal is eagerly awaiting for their hometown to be transformed into a 'book village' under the Buxa Tiger Reserve's Alokvartika project where libraries will be attached to every house in the region.
The villagers are optimistic about this initiative and say that it would turn Panijhora, a region in the Buxa Forest into a major tourist spot in the Dooars. An organisation named Apnakatha along with officials of the district administration of Alipurduar selected Panijhora to be developed as a book village.
Earlier, such an initiative was witnessed in Vilar in Maharashtra and Perukalam in Kerala. An archway will be built at the entrance to the village leading to replicas of small libraries. While entering the village through the wooden archway, one would get a glimpse of a plaque explaining the purpose of the book village.
Under the Alokvartika project, wooden libraries would be built in every house with each having different flavours of books including fantasy books, science books, social awareness books etc. Ten volunteers from the village will look after these small libraries and keep a record of interested readers who will be able to borrow books.
Construction for a huge library in the middle of the village is also on the cards. Initially, a room of the primary school of the village will be turned into a library with more than 500 books in two cupboards. Along with textbooks, there will also be reference books for job seekers, those of which will be managed by two local volunteers.
Later, if land is available, a large library will be built in the village. A computer class will be conducted once every month along with classes for cultural practices. Besides, walls of 50 houses in the village will be illustrated with educational messages, quotes from the sages.
The village is home to seven tribal communities. Partha Saha, Secretary of Entrepreneur Apankatha Sansthan said, "We work with books in backward areas. Our main goal is to spread the light of education and we believe that books can be a great weapon in overcoming social deprivation," he added.
He said out of the 320 people residing in the village in 73 houses, almost 70 to 80 are students. "Students of this area do not have enough money to buy books. Once this project is completed, the central library will be a great source of help for these students," he added.
There will be 100 North Bengal-centric books on the history of Buxa, Jayanti, and Alipurduar, Saha said. "Besides villagers, even tourists can access the library facility. I assure that this village will grow to become the centre of attraction for tourists visiting Dooars," he added.
Parul Meenj, a resident of Panijhora village was excited about this project. "I am elated to hear about this project. Not just tourists but even villagers will be benefit hugely from the libraries," she added. Abhishek Banerjee and Ranjit Burman, acting teachers of Panijhora Primary School, said that this project would catalyse tourism in the region and help in an economic boost.
With the illetrate section of the village receiving a major economic boost, the socio-economic system of the system will improve, helping in overall growth of the region, they added.
Read More:
