Jaldhaka
Geographical Position: Jholung:Latitude 26.2666667 / Longitude: 89.2666667
Paren: N 270 04 07.6 and E 880 52 19.0 Altitude: 2160 ft
The valley of Jaldhaka popularly called as Jholung and now mis-spelt as Jhalung is situated at 1500ft above sea level. This small bazar along with the other places around it in the banks of river Jaldhaka is collectively known as Jaldhaka.
With the establishment of Jaldhaka Hydel Project under the West Bengal State Electricity Distribution Co. Ltd. in the year 1960 the entire history, geography, anthropology and economics of this area changed into a cosmopolitan hamlet. The Stage I and Stage II of this Hydel Project situated at a distance of about 3 km were commissioned in 1967 and 1983 respectively together with generating capacity of 35MW from its 5 units by investing about 25 crore. Now the Stage I power house is being upgraded with new generating machines and entire control units. For the upgradation project the generation of electricity is discontinued since early 2008 and now it is on the verge of completion.
The Indian boundary with Bhutan for nearly 19 kms is demarcated by the river Jaldhaka which has its origin in Sikkim from snow-bound altitudes of about 15000 ft. It crosses into Bhutan and is known as Di-Chu and on its way down it meets two big tributaries Ni-Chu and Bindukhola both coming from Bhutan and forms the Indo Bhutan border. It then enters the plain areas of Dooars of Indian territory and terminates to Brahmaputra in Bangladesh.
Todey Tangta the remotest part of the District of Darjeeling situated at an altitude of 5ooo ft is often recognized as the starting point of Jaldhaka. This extends to Chisang, Godak, Suruk, Tungsung, Parengtar, Gairigaon, Paren, Face-6, RateyPani, Arawal Tar, Jholung, Gairibas, Naxal upto Kumai.
The whole area of Jaldhaka is a prospective tourist destination. Situated on the hill section of Gorubathan Block under Kalimpong Sub-division it is cut off from the rest of the district by a mountain ridge descending south-west from Reche-la.