Kendrapara: Picnic spots conjure up in people’s minds when New Year is around. Revelers prefer to go for picnic during this time with their friends and family to Bhitarkanika National park to enjoy the lush green mangrove cover along with to enjoy the flora and fauna of Bhitarkanika National park.
Now, the Bhitarkanika National Park authorities restricted the entry of tourists to Bhitarkanika from December 26 to January 4 for headcount drive of the estuarine crocodiles in the ongoing picnic season.
So the picnickers, after failing to get opportunity to enter Bhitarkanika, have been congregating either at Pentha sea beach or at Chhualia, one of the famous shrines under Rajnagar Assembly constituency, to enjoy the picnic along with organizing feast with their friends and family members.
But due to lack of minimum amenities available near the Chhualia shrine for the picnickers, several picnic groups are returning with disappointment.
According to Swarup Jena, one of the members of Chhualia Development Committee, the Chhualai pitha is located on the bank of Govari river in Lokanathpur . The whole place is surrounded by Sahada trees.
Other trees like Kadamba, Krushnachuda, Panihenduli, peepal were also situated in Chhualia pitha. In this pitha, people worship Shahada tree (Nature) as the presiding deity Maa Chhualia. Here, the shahada tree is considered Bana Durga.
In this shrine, one cannot find a temple or idol worship. The Shahada tree is worshiped here in the open sky. So, the picnickers come to see the unique Nature worship along with the picnickers are also managed to organize non-veg feast, as fish curry is the prime bhoga in the shrine. So, every day nearly 20 to 30 picnic groups are coming to the shrine to organize feast and also to worship the deity in the form of tree.
Today more than 2000 picnickers from Kendrapara and other districts visited today at the Nature worship place for enjoying with their family and friends on the year weekend.
Ironically, the shrine lacks basic requirements Though, there was a tubewell, but it is not sufficient to cater to the needs of the picnic groups. The road connected to the Chhualia pitha from the main road of Santasahi bridge- Gandakhia remained in a bad shape since last several years whereas the bridge situated on the road has been laying in a dilapidated state in several places.
The shrine lacks bhoga mandap and kitchen too. Though, couple of toilets were set up recently, but it is insufficient for tourists, alleged Chitta Ranjan Das, who thronged to Chhualia on Sunday with his family and friends.
According to Alakarani Nayak, who came with her friends to Chhualia, though its a good site for organizing feast and picnic amid Nature, but the women and girls, who came for picnic, faced a lots of problems as the toilets are not enough for the women.
So, if a woman has to go for urinal or latrine, then for sure she has to attend it in open sky or she has to wait for several minutes.
It is purely unfortunate that though its the only place where Nature worship has been going on and its picturesque is very pleasant, but due to apathy of the district administration and lack of political interest, the said Nature worship place lacks minimum facilities for the tourists.
The Chhualia Development Committee demanded several times before the district administration and district tourist department to take steps for development of the Nature worship place, but in vain.
When contacted Samarth Verma, the District collector, he will take necessary steps to develop the Nature worship place by paying a visit to the said spot very shortly.
PNN