Kendrapara: Though the holiday season has begun, the state tourism department seems to have not fully geared up to meet the tourist rush.
A case in point is the Christmas and New Year holiday rush to Bhitarkanika National Park. Hundreds of tourists and picnickers who wanted to visit Bhitarkanika with family and friends were a disappointed lot on Sunday. Lack of infrastructure for the tourists and insufficient number of boats have forced them to return frustrated at Gupti, a major entry point for going to Bhitarkanika on boat.
Bhitarkanika is known for its lush green mangrove forest, a variety of avifauna, giant salt water crocodiles, Olive Ridley sea turtles and other wildlife. The visitors generally get into Bhitarkanika in boats from Dangamala via Khola, or Gupti entry points.
Tourists generally come to Gupti entry point and hire boats to go to Dangamala Crocodile Research Centre by boat. On the way, they can watch hundreds of crocodiles lazing around on sand banks and see spotted deer and other wild species and birds.
During holidays, thousands of tourists come to Gupti to visit Dangamala. But very few boats for tourists is a major problem for them to enjoy one of the greatest eco systems in Asia.
On Sunday, more than a thousand tourists came to Gupti entry point to go to Dangamala by boats, but several of them had to return as they couldn’t hire boats due to their non-availability, alleged Swetapadma Mishra, of Cuttack.
According to Gayatri Sarangi, from Rourkela, she along with family and friends came to Bhitarkanika for celebrating Christmas Eve. But, unfortunately, they had failed to hire a boat due to non-availability. As a result, they were forced to visit the Dangamal Crocodile Research Centre and managed to see the albino Gori and a couple of estuarine crocodiles in the pens apart from the interpretation centre and three spotted deer. Utterly frustrated to hire a boat, she and her friends went back.
Another problem at Gupti entry point is lack of toilets for female tourists. Though there are three toilet complexes, they are not enough for women tourists. A woman has to wait more than 10 to 15 minutes to go to toilet, alleged Sasmita Sahu, a tourist from Bhubaneswar.
Another tourist, Swarnalata Rout, alleged that though it is a world famous national park, non-availability of boats and lack of hygienic infrastructure for female tourists force hundreds of tourists return in despair.
When contacted, Amareshnath Pradhan, the Ranger of Rajnagar, stated that he is aware of the problem. Meanwhile, three forest department boats, including 40-seat Kasyap, have been deployed at Gupti entry point. Apart from this, 10 private boats were also engaged at Gupti for ferrying tourists to Dangamal.
During tourist season, mostly such problem occurs. From December third week to January first week, the tourists flow is high. So the boats are found insufficient for the tourists at Gupti entry point. But after that, most of the boat operators sit idle as such a large number of tourists hardly visit the place. “We are trying to arrange some more temporary boats for the ongoing tourist season,” said Pradhan, the Ranger of Rajnagar.
At Gupti, there are a dozen toilets and urinals, the forest department doesn’t think they are insufficient for tourists as all the tourists would not go to toilet at a time. Steps would be taken for solving the infrastructure problems, said the Ranger. PNN
