Kendrapara: With the Bhitarkanika National Park remaining closed for visitors for the ongoing crocodile census scores of tourists are heading towards nearby Pentha beach for picnicking.
However, the visitors were unhappy with the lack of even basic infrastructure like drinking water at the beach.
“There are only two tube wells installed inside the forest beat house. But they are not sufficient to cater to water needs tourists, who are coming here in thousands for the last three days,” said Tania Bashist, who came from Keonjhar with his colleagues.
“In the absence of a lavatory, women visitors face a lot of inconvenience,” said Snigdharani Giri, who visited to the beach with her family.
Though the beach stretches over 4 km, lack of infrastructure has been a major concern for visitors, said Narayan Rout, a youth of Sanabaranga.
The idyllic beach now resembles an ecological nightmare with plastic bags and open-air kitchens dotting it.
When contacted, Kapilendra Pradhan, forester of Rajnagar forest range, said the forest department has allowed the tourists to take water from the two tube wells on the beat house premises.
Female tourists are allowed to use the lavatory in the forest department’s building, he said, two days ago some male tourists created a scene demanding similar facility for them. Due to this reason, the department has imposed restriction on tourists on using the toilet, Pradhan said.
The beach is being cleaned twice a week by an anti-poaching forest squad and a team of forest guards. But with new year celebration going on everyday thousands of tourists are coming to the beach for picnicking due to a ban on their entry into Bhitarkanika and they have been dumping plastic bags and food stuff all over the place, Pradhan said, soon the beach will be cleaned.
The forest department has been taking steps to develop infrastructure at the beach to attract more visitors, said the forester. PNN