Rajnagar: COVID-19 guidelines were allegedly found to have been flouted at Bhitarkanika National Park in Kendrapara district Friday.
On the occasion of Christmas, as many as 1,852 visitors reportedly visited the park as against the per day limit of 500 visitors set by the BNP authorities.
This has raised concerns among local residents who are worried about the way the BNP authorities are handling the situation. “New year’s day is just around the corner. More number of visitors is expected on the occasion and thereafter. If the Christmas crowd could not be handled, how the authorities will handle the crowd on new year’s day,” they asked.
According to a source, the visitors came to the park Friday through different entry points. While 78 visitors came to the park in 11 boats from the Chandbali boat jetty, 535 came in 70 boats from Khola jetty. Similarly, 195 visitors reached the park in 21 boats from Chandbali Gupti jetty. A maximum number of 1,044 visitors entered the park through the main gate.
Owing to COVID-19 restrictions, the park was closed for seven months. As the situation returned to normal, permission for night halting was allowed to tourists from October.
The forest department had issued a notification that every day 500 visitors would be allowed into the park via the main entrance from October 19.
But this notification had been twisted on Christmas.
When asked, Bhitarkanika forest range officer Swati Mohanty said, “The restriction regarding the number of visitors is still in place. We have requested the government to allow us to increase the limit of per-day-visit.”
PNN
