If you ask any of the locals of Kavlem about what’s the identity of the village, they will tell you that the village is synonymous with the famous Shantadurga Temple.
The beautiful temple dedicated to Goddess Shantadurga is nestled in the scenic and peaceful environment of Kavlem village and is visited by thousands of tourists every year.
The temple also boosts the local economy of the village, which is situated at in Marcaim constituency.
However despite it being such a popular attraction, there are glaring problems for tourists given the absence of parking and accommodation facilities. Due to this, there are constant traffic related issues in the village with most of the vehicles including buses being parked on the roads, reducing its passage way.
This can be seen right in front of the Temple, which is the major cause of the continuous traffic congestion in the vicinity.
On this note, locals criticise consecutive State governments for neglecting this issue and question why the governments haven’t bothered to provide basic facilities here. “Is this not considered to be a prime tourist destination spot,” quipped a local.
Further, some of the tourists lamented that they had hoped to find a place to stay near the temple but couldn’t do so due to the lack of accommodation facilities.
On that note, the locals launched a tirade against the Tourism Department for the poor condition of the abandoned tourist complex at Kavlem.
It may be recalled that in the year 1996, the tourism department had constructed the complex, which had a hotel and dormitories.
After enjoying success for the first few years, it couldn’t sustain itself and eventually was shut down. Located in an area of 4,000 square metres, it is currently in a dilapidated state, for the last two decades.
“If the government had maintained the complex, it could still have been a source of income for the tourism department and also solved the problems faced by the tourists such as accommodation, bathing facilities and meals,” a local added.
There have also been calls for the old tourism complex to be demolished, and for the same area to be converted into a parking arena.
“There is an access road to this spot and it directly connects to the Dhavlim- Farmagudi Highway. It’s an ideal location for parking as it doesn’t obstruct the traffic of the interior parts of Kavlem village,” said another local.
Another issue that used to trouble the tourists, especially the female tourists, was the absence of toilet facilities. However, recently toilet facilities were constructed, which has brought relief to the visiting tourists.
SARPANCH SPEAKS
Another priority in the village is to get the locals to take up farming again. There is vast agricultural land in the village but most of it has been kept fallow for years due to the rising costs of cultivation.
Reacting to this, Sarpanch Rajesh Kavlekar was optimistic that things will change. He added that recently, the Madhavrao Dhavlikar Trust had encouraged farmers by providing them with financial help and that there already has been greater involvement from farmers in paddy cultivation for the coming season.
On a different note, he pointed out that the work of construction of 15 MLD Sewerage Treatment Plant is coming up at Kavlem, where the sewage from Ponda city and Kavlem will be treated.
However, Kavlekar, hit out at the State government and reiterated that it had failed to meet the tourism related requirements of the village. He also was of the view that the tourism complex should be demolished and used for parking and residential purposes.
