The state government has tried to chronicle Orissa’s rich tourism potential through a visual presentation with the help of a team of shutterbugs, reports Arindam Ganguly
BHUBANESWAR: Four wildlife photographers who were on a 19day exploration of the cataracts in the hills and valleys in 23 districts of Orissa are back with rich treasure of well-documented road networks and logistics. The mission, flagged off October 6 by Sports Minister Chandrasarathi Behera at Kalinga Stadium here, had captured 35 waterfalls covering 4000 Kilometres. The initial plan of the shutterbugs was to cover 28 major waterfalls within 15 days by travelling around 2600 kilometres in the state. For photographer Durgesh Kumar Singh, it was a successful venture comprising 30 waterfalls. “During the course of the journey we found waterfalls like Alkudar in Mayurbhanj, Khandadhar and Tentianali in Keonjhar which were unexplored so far and had huge tourism potential,’’ Singh reveals. Recounting his photographic journey, Udayan Sarathi said,
“We had not encountered any difficulty on the way. The weather was a bit of concern at some places due to heavy rain. Thanks to the time-limit set for our trip, we could not spend much time at the waterfalls!” “During the photographic trip we found huge garbage, plastic and other debris had been littered by some tourists at the waterfalls. The local authorities must prevent visitors from spoiling the beauty of the places and stop contributing to the environmental degradation. Also, at places the stream of water has changed course due to the tourists’ interference with nature,” adds Durgesh.
Two other accompanying photographers in the team who have been assigned to document the rich nature are Aditya Panda and Sumanta Lenka. The group, however, is busy editing the videos to create visual documents to be presented to state Tourism department. ‘‘We will submit these documents at a meeting with the officials sometime in November,’’ said Udayan.
The photographic documents which will be the property of the department are expected to serve as awareness and information material for the tourists and help conservation of the tourist destinations in the state. The team of photographers surveyed waterfalls at Duduma, Barehipani, Joranda, Bhimkund, Devkund and Sanghagra, Badaghagra, Khandadhar (Keonjhar), Khandadhar (Sundargarh), Pradhanpat, Nrusinghanath, Handibhanga, Gundichaghai, Phulrijharan, Uski and Katramal among others. Photo courtesy: Durgesh Kumar Singh, Udayan Sarathi, Aditya Panda and Sumanta Lenka
