Wiki Explores Cooch Behar - Phase I

Wiki Explores Cooch Behar - Phase I is a two-day event to document some areas of district of Cooch Behar, West Bengal, India. While the Cooch Behar town is popular among the tourists, Wikimedia Commons surprisingly has very less high-quality images of the place. The objective of this event is to photo-document the various heritage structures in the said area most of which have significantly less presence on Wikimedia commons.

Cooch Behar district

Goal

1. Photograph heritage sites at Cooch Behar Town, Baneshwar Shiva Temple, Madhupur Dham, Gosanimari excavation site and Kamteshwari temple. Done
2. Upload media for the heritage structures of Cooch Behar district on Wikimedia Commons . Done
3. Create / Update articles about the heritage structures on Bengali and English Wikipedia. Doing...
4. Create / Update items in Wikidata. Doing...

Date

Date: 20–21 January 2020

Participant

Amitabha Gupta (talk) 16:55, 18 January 2020 (UTC)

Itinerary

• 18.01.2020(Saturday) - Depart from Kolkata by Patadik Express at 23:20 Y
• 19.01.2020(Sunday) - Reach New Cooch Behar station in the afternoon. Overnight at Hotel and Cooch Behar Town.Y
• 20.01.2020(Monday) - Photograph heritage building in the Cooch Behar Town. Overnight at Hotel and Cooch Behar Town.Y
• 21.01.2020(Tuesday) - Photograph heritage structures at Baneshwar Shiva Temple, Madhupur Dham, Gosanimari excavation site and Kamteshwari temple. Board Patadik Express in the afternoon. Reach Kolkata next day morning.Y

Places to be covered

[Note: Some places outside the sub-division will also be covered]

1. CoochBihar Raj Bari and Park Y
2. Madan Mohan Temple Y
3. Baneshwar Shiva TempleY
4. Sagardighi Y
5. Old District Magistrates Office Y
6. District offices of Backward Classes Welfare Department(Kalyan Bhawan)Y
7. MJN Hospital Y
8. Head Post Office ( GPO)Y
9. Victor Palace Y
10. Bhola Ashram (Presently residence of Additional district magistrate)Y
11. Maharaja Jitendra Narayan Club Y
12. Jenkins School Y
13. ABNS College Y
14. Chilarai Barrack N
15. Siddheswari Temple Y
16. Siddhanath Siva Temple Y
17. Parijat VillaY
18. Railway Museum, Coochbihar Y
19. Madhupur Dham Temple Y
20. Gosanimari Rajpat Y
21. Kamteswari Temple Y

Financial Report

Date	Particulars	Details	Amount (Rs)	Remarks
18.01.2020	Train Ticket	Patadik Express (Howrah to New Cooch Behar)	1080.00	Ticket Provided
19.01.2020	Breakfast in Train		50.00	No Bill
	Toto Fare	New Cooch Behar Station to Yuvaraj Hotel	150.00	No Bill
	Railway Museum Entry free	Northeast Frontier Railway, Alipurduar division	20	Bill Provided
20.01.2020	Toto Fare within the city		30.00	No Bill
	CoochBehar Musuem Entry Fee	Archaeological Survey of India	25.00	Bill misplaced
21.01.2020	Hotel Bill (19.01.2020-21.01.2020)	Hotel Yuvaraj	2464.00	Bill Provided
	Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner (19.01.2020-20.01.2020)	Restaurant Monarch	1142.00	Bill Provided
	Incidental expenses	Tipping Room service	100.00	No Bill
	Car Expenses for visting Gosanimari, Baneswar, etc	Om Sai Travels	2600.00	Bill Provided
	Photography Charges	Debottar Trust Coochbehar	60.00	Bill Provided
	Parking Fees	Baneswar Gram Panchayat	20.00	Bill Provided
	Lunch on 21.01.2020	Top Hotel	220.00	Bill Provided
	AC Waiting Room Charge	Apex Industries	20.00	Bill Provided
	Train Ticket	Patadik Express	1117.00	Train Ticket provided
			9098.00

Comments on Tour

1. Other than Chillarai Barrack which is a military barrack and does not allow photography, other places are easy to photographs. To get crowdless photos of Government building and Schools one has to visit them early morning, say by 9:00 am
2. Coochbehar has many heritage buildings which are relatively unknown and difficult to locate. Local heritage expert Rzishikalpa Paul informed me about these. Since I did not have any extra time, I am keeping these for my next exploration programme.
3. One can visit the prominent heritage spots in the city in a day either by walking on foot or travelling in Toto. That way car cost can be saved which is expensive at Coochbehar.

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