[Prem Chetry]
THEMBANG, 1 Aug: Village youths, students and other stakeholders demanded that the fortified Thembang village in West Kameng district be included as a World Heritage Site by the UNESCO.
They said this while participating in a ‘heritage tourism awareness programme’, organised here by Guwahati (Assam)-based Indian Tourism on Wednesday.
The programme’s convener, Tsering Wange briefed the participants on the importance of heritage tourism and ecotourism, and strongly advocated including the village as a World Heritage Site, saying that “it was in the tentative list in 2014.”
Meanwhile, Thembang CO Moyir Kato expressed gratitude to the tourism ministry and the Himalayan Holidays for organising the awareness programme.
She expressed immense pride that Thembang found a place in the tentative list of the UNESCO World Heritage Site. “As such, the need of the hour is to understand the significance of preserving our rich cultural heritage and cultural property, especially in the wake of fast development and modernisation,” she said.
“Such heritage sites are of great interest for domestic as well as international tourists, and Thembang definitely has a great potential for tourism in the days to come,” she said, and added that “involvement and participation of the community in preserving the rich cultural heritage and also in providing hospitality to the tourists is very important.”
RSS vibhaag pracharak in charge of West Kameng, East Kameng, Pakke-Kessang and Tawang districts, Narendra Kumar spoke on the importance of heritage tourism and the need to create awareness about it.
The headmasters of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Awasiya Vidyalayas, Heritage School Headmaster Thupten Tsering, and Passang Sarchhokpa also spoke
Yoga guru Hari Narayan Thakur spoke on yoga, meditation, and traditional healing, and conducted on-the-spot healing therapy on two patients, who had been suffering from sinuses and other issues for a long very time.
Among others, five interns from the Gangtok (Sikkim)-based ICFAI’s travel & tourism management department participated in the programme, which also included a heritage walk through the fortified village.
