Hour-long traffic jam witnessed on the peak of Mullaiyyana Giri in Chikmagalur
picture for representational purpose
Bengaluru: It seems the state government has not learnt a lesson from the tragedies involving adventure sports enthusiasts in the past. Over the last two years, at least half-a-dozen youth have either drowned in rivers or fallen off cliffs in the state, solely because of lack of a monitoring mechanism.Tragedy struck again on Sunday when a trekker was washed away in the Dudhsagar waterfalls located on the borders of Karnataka and Goa. The Castlerock police in Karnataka said that the trekker had not been identified and his body was yet to be fished out. The Castlerock police have now handed over the investigation to Goa police.
In other parts of the state, with a long weekend last week, all tourist spots across the state, a huge rush of vehicles and people. In some places, like Kumara Parvatha in the Western Ghats, tourists left a trail of plastic waste, and created walkways that could prove dangerous in the rainy season. Fortunately, except for the Dudhsagar Falls tragedy, no other incident was reported from other parts of the state.
In the Kumara Parvatha region, a group of trekkers lost their way, but were rescued by local fishermen, who guided them to the right route. Other tourist destinations, which otherwise offered a pleasant drive, saw gridlocks on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. An hour-long traffic jam was witnessed on the peak of Mullaiyyana Giri in Chikmagalur when thousands of tourists thronged the monsoon destination. Similar congestion was reported from Shimsha, Irappu, Bheemeshwari, Sangama and Muthathi. It’s estimated that close to one lakh people visited temples and tourist destinations along the Cauvery river in the last two days.
For the first time, the small town of Castlerock witnessed a heavy traffic jam on Saturday and Sunday when hundreds of cars made their way to the Castlerock railway station to catch a train to Dudhsagar waterfalls. Rail route is the only way to reach the waterfalls, which is the sixth steepest in the country.
Environmentalists raised concerns over the trail of plastic waste left behind by hundreds of tourists. “A large amount of plastic waste has been generated around Kumara Parvatha in the last three days and there is no mechanism to clear it. At least the forest department can stop people from carrying plastic at the beginning of the trek. But when the trekking itself is illegal, why would anyone bother to keep the area clean? It is a known fact that the trekkers bribe forest guards to walk up the mountains. With so many climbing these pristine hills, walkways are being created on the mountain which is not a good development and could prove dangerous, especially during heavy rains,” said Mr Dev Balaji, an adventure instructor from Bengaluru.
( Source : dc )
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