About
History
The Dooars belonged to the Kamata Kingdom under the Koch dynasty; and taking advantage of the weakness of the Koch kingdom in subsequent times, Bhutan took possession of the Dooars. This region was controlled by the kingdom of Bhutan when the British annexed it in 1865 after the Bhutan War under the command of Captain Hedayat Ali. The area was divided into two parts: the eastern part was merged with Goalpara district in Assam and the western part was turned into a new district named Western Dooars. Again in the year 1869, the name was changed to Jalpaiguri District. After the end of the British rule in India in 1947, the Dooars acceded into the dominion of India and it merged with the Union of India shortly afterwards in 1949.
People
The Dooars are famous for the tea gardens which were planted by the British. For working in the gardens, they imported labour from Nepal and the Chota Nagpur and Santhal Parganas. The Oraons, Mundas, Kharia, Mahali, Lohara and Chik Baraik are the tribals from these areas. The tribal of Chotanagpur origin are employed in tea gardens, which started production during the 1870s. Before the settlement of other communities, these people converted the forests into villages and busties (agriculture village). The remnants of these tribal people form a majority of the population in Western Dooars.
Landscape
The Dooars region politically constitutes the plains of Darjeeling Himalayas, the whole of Jalpaiguri district and Alipurduar district. The altitude of Dooars area ranges from 90 to 1,750 m. Innumerable streams and rivers flow through these fertile plains from the mountains of Bhutan. The major river is the Teesta besides many others like the Jaldhaka, Murti, Torsa, Sankosh, Dyna, Karatoya, Raidak, and Kaljani rivers, among others. Monsoon generally starts from the middle of May and continues till the end of September. Winters are cold with foggy mornings and nights. Summer is mild and constitutes a very short period of the year. Dooars is the ideal place in Bengal for monsoon travelling.
Dooars is the bengali name "Duar" or door to Bhutan. The vast undulating plain is entry point of Bhutan and an exemplary tourism destination in West Bengal. The area has a vast network of WBFDC hotels and a handful of WBTDC accomodations along with private hotels, guest houses and resortes. However the government owned WBFDC and WBTDC accomodations commands the best of the locales and sites.Get In & Out
By Air
The nearest passenger airport is at Bagdogra near Siliguri. Most of the domestic airlines like Air India, Jet Airways, Indigo, Spicejet etc operates regular flight from Kolkata, Delhi, Guwahati and other major cities of India.
By Train
There are regular trains till the stations of New Jalpaiguri (Siliguri), Hasimara, New Coochbehar, Alipurduar Junction from Kolkata and New Delhi. Atleast one dozen trains ply in between Howrah / Sealdah (Kolkata) to these stations, like, Darjeeling Mail, Kanchankanya Express, Kanchanjunga Express, Haldibari Express, Teesta Torsha Express, Shatabdi Express, Saraighat Express, Kamrup Express, Uttar Banga Express, Paharia Express, Padatik Express and Garib Rath Express.
By Road
Siliguri is the gateway to the Dooars. Cooch Behar, being the headquarters of the North Bengal State Transport Corporation, is well connected by long distance bus routes to Siliguri as well as Kolkata, Jalpaiguri and other major cities of the state. Volvo and normal buses ply from Kolkata to Siliguri. Govt of West Bengal undertaking WBSTC (Royal Cruiser), CSTC, NBSTC, SBSTC and various private operators who ply regular bus service to Siliguri from Espalnade and Karunamoyee Bus Terminus in Kolkata.
