Team Herald
PANJIM: The State Wildlife Board (SWB), chaired by Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, has decided to conduct a study to assess the carrying capacity of Dudhsagar waterfalls for tourism, before the commencement of the season next year.
The SWB which met last week, in-principle approved a proposal to four-lane the 14 kilometers Anmod section of National Highway 4-A passing through the Molem protected area, as well as double-tracking the south west railway (SWR) track in the protected area.
Sources told Herald that the meeting decided to appoint a committee to undertake the carrying capacity study of Dudhsagar waterfall, which will give an overall idea of number of visitors and vehicles (jeeps ferrying visitors) to be allowed, other areas of tourism promotion to be explored without distributing the environment.
“The study will propose the total number of tourists to be allowed during the season, weekends and regular days. Before the next season, government will finalise the plan based on the report,” sources said.
The issue on the restriction of number of vehicles and trips to the waterfall was raised during the recently concluded winter Session of the Legislative Assembly. Sanvordem MLA Deepak Pawaskar had demanded that permission for more vehicles, to ferry visitors to the waterfall, be granted.
SWB has decided to increase the number of vehicles from 225 to 300 up to January 10, 2018. In order to streamline the footfalls at the waterfall, SWB also discussed introducing online facility to book jeeps ferrying tourists to the falls.
The Chief Minister had told the House that the carrying capacity of the waterfall is limited due to the rough terrain and that the people living around the waterfall were given an employment opportunity to transport passenger but greed resulted in one person buying more than one vehicle, ultimately leading in excess jeeps ferrying tourists.
