Nellore: The turnout for the Flamingo festival at Sullurpeta was thin on the second day unlike in the previous year. People from Nellore and neighbouring Chittoor districts and Tamil Nadu used to make a beeline to Nelapattu and Pulicat bird sanctuaries for the bird fest. But locals said the attendance was poor.
Stalls at the venue, Government Junior College ground, wore a deserted look. Only students were seen moving around and there was noticeable crowd only at Shar, the stall of the Satish Dhawan Space Centre.
Even students were very less because private schools operated as usu-al, though government schools at Sullurpeta and Doravarisathram had declared holidays. Locals blamed the organisers for their failure to have in place proper facilities. There was no water supply for visitors, they said. The administration used to set up information centres on the Sullurpeta and Sriharikota routes every year to provide useful information to the visitors. But this year even that was missing.
A private event management agency was entrusted with the festival organisation. Visitors complained that those in the last rows of the venue could see nothing happening on the stage.
There was the charge by locals that the administration was preoccupied with the arrangements for the CM’s programme on Saturday and his son Lokesh’s visit to Nellore and Kavali on Monday. People’s representatives also did not take much initiative for the festival, they said. However, a sizeable number of people were seen taking boat rides across Pulicate Lake and the turnout at Nelapattu bird sanctuary was impressive.
