The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Curtain comes down on tourist season

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Sunday, Jun 07, 2009
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Curtain comes down on tourist season

D. Radhakrishnan

Need for proper traffic management plan for Ooty stressed

Photo: M. Sathyamoorthy

Chill effect: Braving inclement weather, tourists at the Government Botanical Garden in Udhagamandalam on Saturday. —

Udhagamandalam: With the advent of the South-West monsoon, the curtain has come down on the 2009 summer tourist season in this hill station. Majority of the visitors are bidding adieu to this holiday destination, though some tourists are still trickling in and the summer activities at the Ooty Race Course are yet to conclude.

In keeping with convention, a post-mortem of its plus and minus points has commenced among various sections of the society here.

Speaking to ‘The Hindu’ here on Saturday, people representing a cross-section of the society opined that the season was in some ways different and in some other an eye-opener.

Though the Lok Sabha elections pushed the season to the back-burner during the better part of the summer, the spurt in the inflow of tourists on certain days exposed many inadequacies on the infrastructure front, particularly with regard to parking facilities. The sweltering heat in the plains drove all classes of tourists to the hills.

Consequently a feature of the season, which is likely to endure in the memory of tourists and the local people for a long time was the chaotic conditions which prevailed often on the main roads due to frequent traffic snarls.

Pointing out that with proper planning they could have been avoided, residents felt that it was high time competent persons were brought here to draw up a proper traffic management plan. While on the one hand the number of tourist vehicles and those owned by the residents has increased considerably, on the other development of infrastructure vis a vis parking lots and footpaths has not been commensurate.

Since footpaths were either in an appalling state or encroached upon by the roadside shops and pavement hawkers, pedestrians were forced to walk on the road. This coupled with the size of many of the cars and haphazard parking added to the confusion.

Since the traffic police had to be drafted for other duties, often it was a free for all on the main roads. However, the traffic wardens and the home guards did a commendable job in mitigating the sufferings of the people.

Delay caused by the elections and paucity of time notwithstanding, the district administration and the other authorities concerned did well in conducting the summer-related activities like the boat pageant, boat race and summer festival in a commendable manner.

The calculated risk taken in conducting the annual flower show over three days for the first time paid rich dividends in terms of relieving congestion. As feared, rain did not play spoilsport.

Agriculture Minister Veerapandi S. Arumugham earned the appreciation of the residents and many regular visitors by accepting a suggestion to rename the Centenary Rose Park here as Government Rose Garden.

The name had been misleading because the park was only 14 years old.

A regret shared by both tourists and locals this season was that the internationally renowned Nilgiri Mountain Railway did not live up to its expectation. The usual summer special did not make an appearance this year.

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