By Prasenjit Debnath Nov 08, 2022
Agartala, Nov 8 (FD) Perched on the Atharamura hill range in Tripura’s Khowai district, Montang or otherwise known as the mountain of peace is a nondescript place, which all on a sudden emerged as the most prominent destination for the tourists.
Even as there is no infrastructure for the tourists, People are wandering the spaces, many making a beeline to see floating clouds from close proximity. A cold gentle breeze always welcomes the tourists in the lush green forests.
The place was discovered in 2016 by a busy journalist and film maker Kamal Kalai and thought of making a small hut to spend there to take breathe of life by carving out some time from his busy schedule.
“Taking some time off from daily busy schedule, I thought of spending some time in the Tong ghar, what is known to the people as the thatched bamboo made huts anchored on some strong bamboo made pillars. I thought I would cook rice and vegetables collected from Jhu
m field and the fishes caught from Cherra (rivulets), which would give me the touch of my earlier life in village”, Kalai said.
However, Kalai later turned politician and became an Executive Member of Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) after winning the elections in April last year.
The tribal council constitutes two third of the state territory and home to the indigenous people.
After becoming the Executive Member of the tribal council he managed funds from the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) to build connecting ro
ads from National Highway 8 to Montang as this beautiful place falls under his constituency and built a ‘Tong ghar’ there.
The place abruptly turned into a bustling tourist spot and emerged as a new destination of tourists and nature lovers after he posted the photos of the place in social media, which got viral.
“This is my dream to turn the place into a full-fledged tourists spot. The TTAADC has no enough money spend there. I want state Tourism department pay attention to develop the place. Law and order is being looke
d into properly as people started making a mad rush to see the place”, Kalai said.
He also decided to turn a portion of the place into an organic village and some portion as the ‘village of flowers’. FD PD JK
Pictures collected from Kamal Kalai