HAFLONG, March 19 - Doiheng, a century-old village in Dima Hasao, located only 6 km from Retzuol on Haflong- Amaranagar road (old Haflong-Amaranangar-Silchar road) inhabited by the people belonging to Hmar community bounded by natural beauty has failed to draw the attention of the authorities for reasons best known to the concerned authority, the villagers alleged.
Doiheng, of late has become a much sought for place for the bird and nature lovers since birds� phenomenon like at Jatinga is being witnessed. Perhaps for this reason, the Tourism Department has also constructed a Tourist guest house but without any amenities.
Routholal Hmar, the present gaonburha said in 1690 they came down from Jumpai Hill to Cachar, then they came to Doiheng and settled one km inside the present village. One British official named C H Bell has certified in 1927 that these people have settled here for 100 years. The certificate is still with him. Hmar said earlier the population was much more but after a few years the villagers settled in the nearby villages like Buolmoul, Muolhoi etc., and now Doiheng is having 46 houses with 267 souls. There prime means of livelihood is Jhuming and they produce mainly paddy, ginger, chilli etc.
To promote tourism, this year on January 5, the villagers with the initiative of TourAD (Tourism Association of Dima Hasao) along with four other villagers of Jatinga, N Leikul, Kelelo, Longma organised 'Barail Mountain Festival-2017' which received tremendous response from various parts of the State.
The villagers of Doiheng believe that Dima Hasao has a tremendous potential for the development of tourism as an income generating source for the people, but without the people�s involvement in the process, this could be an impractical task.
Bankim Haflongbar associated with the TourAd talking to this correspondent disclosed that sustainable tourism requires the active involvement of the people and for this the Tourism Department has to encourage the villagers by means of financial support so that they can use their houses as Homestay instead of constructing Tourist lodges or Rest Houses. He also said the main objective of Tourism is to promote sustainable livelihood for the local communities.
