Munnar: The tourism infrastructure at the Eravikulam National Park (ENP) at Rajamala has got a major facelift ahead of Kurinji 2018, confirmed Munnar wildlife warden R. Lakshmi. From online ticketing to visitors' lounge and bio-toilets, the planned upgrade is multifaceted.
“NATPAC (National Transportation Planning and Research Centre) in their study had suggested an improvement plan of Rs 10.75 lakh for ENP. The Wildlife Department had envisaged a plan focusing on Kurinji season a year ago itself. The department is now on track to complete all the proposed works within the deadline,” Lakshmi said.
The focus of wildlife department's drive has been to strengthen the online ticket facility, as this year the administration plans to make 75 per cent of the tickets available only through online. The offline ticket counters will function from KSRTC bus stand in Old Munnar and Marayoor Forest Complex. For more details on ticket booking click here
Standing in queue for long time at the national park entry point at Ancham Mile and at the bus bay at Tahr-1 sector used to be a major spoiler for many visitors. To solve this, a visitors' lounge with a seating capacity of 300 is being built at the entry point. The waiting shed at Tahr-1 sector has been extended. “Work of the lounge is completed. Only the seating facility has to be added. The lounge would cater to the needs of up to 300 visitors at a time,” said the wildlife warden.
The fleet of vehicles that will take visitors from park entry point at Ancham Mile to Tahr-1, the drop point on Rajamala, has been bolstered.
Bio-toilets have been installed and work on the drinking water facility is in progress.
Display boards are being installed at Munnar, Marayoor and Neriamangalam to alert visitors about the real-time status, ticket availability, etc.
The department will deploy additional forest personnel for crowd management during the season in ENP.
The working hours, which currently is 8 am to 4 pm (ticket-issuing time) will be extended by 2 hours and the park timings during kurinji season would be 7.30 am to 5.30 pm.