West Bengal government plans to set up orchid park

KOLKATA: West Bengal government is planning to set up an orchid park in north Bengal. The park, to be created in collaboration with a private company, is going to come up in either Alipurduar or Jalpaiguri district, where the government has enough suitable land at its disposal.

An expert from Thailand has been roped in to create the park on the lines of similar parks in places like Phuket and Kanchanaburi.

According to tourism minister Gautam Deb, the park is likely to come up on 30-35 acres of land. It would have an orchid garden as well as cottages with home stay facilities for tourists. The orchids would also be sold in the country as well as abroad.

The park would thus offer multiple opportunities for employment – from growing and packaging of orchids to management of the cottages.