There aren’t many places that offer a good view of the sunrise. But there also are a few sites from where it looks as if the sun is rising not from the distant horizon but right in front of one’s eyes. Sandakpur, which lies at the border point between Nepal’s far-eastern districts of Ilam and Panchthar, and the Indian state of West Bengal, and which is situated at an altitude of 3,636m, is one such location from where the glowing sun appears to rise right in front of the observer. Between October and April, huge numbers of tourists flock to Sandakpur. They need to use Nepal’s territory to get a good sunrise view. There is a hilltop on the Nepali side that offers spectacular views of the sunrise and the sunset. But the Nepali territory doesn’t have adequate infrastructure and hotels to accommodate the legions of tourists in Sanda­kpur. As a result, it’s the Indian side, which has many more hotels than the Nepali side, that makes most of the money from the region’s tourism.

 

Whereas the Nepali side has just two hotels, the Indian side has 14—three privately run and 11 operated under the West Bengal state gov­ernment. Both hotels on the Nepali side—Sherpa Shaile and Sunrise—are private. Pema Dandu Sherpa, manager of Sherpa Shaile, says Nepal has failed to tap the tourism potential of Sandakpur.

 

“Tourists view the sunrise from the Nepali side. But because we don’t have enough hotels, most of them have no choice but to stay in the hotels on the other side. Nepal government hasn’t shown interest and taken the initiative to develop adequate tourism infrastructure,” says Sherpa. Other Nepalis in the region also say that India has earned billions by milking Nepali territory.

 

Domestic tourist Tyson Kerung said he felt bad at the current state of affairs. “It’s sad that we cannot feel the pres­ence of the Nepali state in such a profitable area that attracts hordes of tourists,” says Kerung.

 

Pasang Dawa, a hotel entrepreneur, informed that tourists wanting to stay in Sandakpur pay anywhere in the range of 500 to 3,500 Indian rupees per night.

 

BY BHIM KUMAR BASKOTA | SANDAKPUR, ILAM