Satkhira Range
Revenue earning from Sundarbans falls
Arrival of tourists at Satkhira range of the Sundarbans is declining day by day, thanks to increased tourism tax and lack of sufficient infrastructural development.
As a result, revenue earning from the world's largest mangrove forest is also decreasing largely.
Satkhira range office sources said that in 2011 per person tourism tax was Tk 50 which has been raised to Tk 150 in the current fiscal year.
There are five tourist spots under the range--Kolagachhiya, Dobeki, Mandarbaria, Natabeki and Pushpokathi-- which are generally visited by the tourists from home and abroad.
Forest officer Maniruzzaman said, the revenue income from this range was Tk4.17 lakh in the first three months of the last tour season.
Of the total revenue, Tk 47,000 was collected in September, Tk1.2 lakh in October and Tk 2.66 lakh in November.
But the revenue income was recorded at Tk1.46 lakh in the first three months of the current tourism year which is 60/65 per cent less than that of the corresponding period of the last season.
“Though the government has tripled the tourism tax, it has not taken any initiative to increase facilities for the local and foreign tourists,†Polash, a college student who came from Jhenidah to visit the Sundarbans, said.
There is no good quality hotel for passing night, nor is there any restaurant for taking food and security measures here are also not sufficient, he remarked.
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