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Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s dream village is Kalchini Banchaya Basti. Tourists from Sweden are fascinated by coming to spend a holiday there. Two others accompanying the foreign tourists were almost speechless by the hospitality of the locals and the natural beauty. They have promised to come back to this village next April. Income will increase if the traffic of tourists. The economic situation of the area will change. Locals are very happy with that.

On December 10, 2023, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee held an administrative meeting at Alipurduar. He asked for the removal of Gangutia and Bhutia settlements, two forest settlements in Buxa Tiger Reserve from the river’s chest. There were a total of 51 households in Bhutia settlement and a total of 191 households in Gangutia settlement. After the instructions of the Chief Minister, the forest administration took action. Financial assistance of Rs 15 lakh is given to each family. In the same year, on 22nd December, the first installment of compensation was given to each family with 7.5 lakh rupees. The administration started the work of moving Bhutia settlement on the bank of Jayanti river and Gangutia settlement on the bank of Raimatang river. The administration created a new village next to Kalchini’s Bhatpara tea garden by giving each family 8 decimals of land. Chief Minister named this village Banchaya. Since then this village is known as Chief Minister’s village.

Here the district administration works on several developments including home stay, free stage. Domestic tourists keep coming to this village. But this is the first time a foreign tourist has set foot in this village. Three came from Sweden. One of them is Shelbond Land, the owner of the tour agency. Tourists are fascinated by eating, dancing and singing with the locals. Shelbond Land said, “We stayed in Banchaya village for two days. This village is very beautiful with hills, forests, tea plantations, wildlife. I heard that the state government has brought two villages out of the forest to avoid conflict between wildlife and people. It is a wonderful initiative. We will come here again in April.”

Ramkumar Lama, a local resident, said, “The district administration has taken many initiatives to make this village attractive to tourists. Nachaya is turning around. We have taught yoga to three foreign tourists here. We have learned their songs. They have sung with us. Thus there has been cultural exchange. We are also happy.”