Jharkhand will host its maiden “Eco-Retreat” festival next month and one of the venues will be the scenic Chandil dam in Seraikela-Kharswan district.

State tourism director A. Dodde along with tourism and sports secretary Puja Singhal visited Chandil dam on Tuesday and took stock of the facilities at the natural reservoir.

“We are satisfied with the facilities and have asked the Seraikela-Kharsawan district administration to make necessary arrangements for Eco-Retreat 2021 which will be held at Chandil dam, in Netarhat and Patratu dam. We will soon select a private agency for conduct of the activities as part of the Eco-Retreat which is tentatively scheduled between March 1 and 31,” said Dodde, also the former deputy commissioner of Seraikela-Kharsawan who is acquainted with the Chandil dam.

As part of the Eco-Retreat, which is aimed at attracting tourists to the scenic spot, the private agency would have to erect over 25 luxury cottage tents, restaurant and bar, and arrange for sight-seeing and live performances along with land and water sports activities.

Earlier in the day, Singhal and sports director Zeeshan Qamar took stock of the facilities at the JRD Tata Sports Complex and Tata Football Academy in Jamshedpur.

After inspecting the facilities for nearly two hours in view of the proposed hosting of camps for the U-17 and U-20 national women’s football teams, the officials expressed satisfaction.

“We are satisfied with the sports infrastructure and would be sending the details to the All India Football Federation (AIFF). We expect the national camps for under-17 and under-20 women’s teams to commence tentatively from mid-February. The camps will be ideally held for a period of three months,” said Qamar.

Sources in the state sports department said that Jamshedpur will continue to host the women’s football national camps till the infrastructure is ready at Birsa Munda Football Stadium at Morabadi in Ranchi.

After the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the AIFF and the Jharkhand government last year, a major chunk of women’s national football camps would be hosted in the state from this year onwards.

Singhal, who also is the secretary of the industry department, later visited the Electronic Manufacturing Cluster (EMC) in Adityapur.