Darjeeling hill town to host another fest right after the ongoing tea and tourism festival

Darjeeling, TT.Dec. 30: The hill town will play host to another fest right after the ongoing tea and tourism carnival ends on January 5.

A 10-day Agro-horti Techno Fair is being organised by the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council to educate the farmers about the latest techniques in cultivation.

Anil Verma, the administrator of DGHC, said: “The fair will start on January 7 and will carry on till January 16 at the Happy New Year bridge at Goke (about 20km from Darjeeling).”

With the spirit of festivity hanging in the air — Darjeeling is now hosting a tea and tourism festival — the organisers have lined up a series of programmes with a promise to make the agricultural fair as attractive as the winter carnival.

“We will have a hot air balloon and other attractions like zorbing ball and paragliding sessions at the fair,” said Verma.

It is the first time that a hot air balloon will be brought for an event in the hills. It will be tied to a rope at the venue.

Sources said Gorkha Janmukti Morcha chief Bimal Gurung had expressed his interest in the event.

“Bimal Gurung was very keen to start paragliding in the area (venue of the fair) and he personally went around to select spots for the game,” said a source.

According to sources, during the day, a series of seminars by officials of various departments like agriculture, animal resource development, fisheries, sericulture, directorate of cinchona plantation and industries have been lined up.

In the evening, cultural troupes from Rimbick-Lodhama, Singamari-Tukvar, Chungtung, Lebong and other places from the hills will be performing at the fair.

“There will be ferris wheel and tambolla, traditional food and handicraft stalls at the fair. Volleyball and badminton tournaments along with events like tug-of-war would also be held,” said a source.

He added that efforts were on to hold a mobile planetarium show at the fair.

“It would be brought in from the Kalimpong Science Centre,” he said.

Verma added that a similar programme for the farmers would be organised at Relli in Kalimpong from January 11 to 13.