Kendrapara: Resentment is brewing among tourists who come to the Bhitarkanika National Park (BNP) as they are unable to hire luxurious catamarans here for trips.
The catamarans are anchored at Gupti, the entry point of river Patasala, as the private company which was entrusted with the responsibility of operating them from Gupti to Dangamal for tourists has directed its staff not to operate them.
The BNP’s water bodies, lush green mangroves, its 215 species of avifauna, including eight varieties of Kingfishers, attract tourists from all over the world.
BNP is also home to the largest population of saltwater crocodiles. It is the second largest viable mangrove ecosystem in India. One can find around 70 species of mangroves here.
Gahirmatha is the world’s largest rookery of Olive Ridley sea turtles. Giant saltwater crocodiles and a variety of other wildlife are found here, and it is one of Asia’s spectacular wildlife areas.
Visitors generally come across estuarine crocodiles basking on the banks of creeks, rivers and canals inside BNP while travelling in boats to Dangamala via Khola, or Gupti.
The sighting of crocodiles lying on the shores of the water bodies attracts tourists to the spot. Due to this, the flow of tourists to BNP increases from October to February.
The forest department had procured four catamarans from Goa at a cost of Rs 5.51 crore with World Bank help under the Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) Project for providing luxury trips to tourists so that they can enjoy the flora and fauna of BNP.
Each boat has two bedrooms, a balcony with comfortable seating, a bathroom, a dining hall and a kitchen. The boats are like floating hotels and have solar powered lamps and fans. Each boat has a capacity to carry 20 tourists.
Later, three catamarans with a capacity to ferry nine tourists each was also provided. The eco-friendly soundless fibre glass vessels are equipped with fool proof safety mechanisms to ensure safe travel in crocodile-infested water.
In January 2016, the forest department handed over seven catamaran boats, four of them luxury boats with a capacity of 20 seats each and three with nine seats each, to the Kerala-based Samudra Shipyard so that tourists can hire them.
The charge for hiring a 20-seat catamaran was Rs 8,000 while the charge for the 9-seat boat was Rs 2,500.
But the company stopped operations a month ago as not a single booking was made by tourists. Debadatta Swain, the supervisor of Samudra Shipyard, said not even a single trip was booked since a month.
The four 20-seat catamarans were not operational since February while the three small catamarans, having a capacity of nine passengers each, operated four times in October.
Although now calls for hiring the catamarans are coming from tourists, the company is not giving them an opportunity to book the boats.
The seven luxury boats would remain non-operational as long as permission does not come from the Samudra Shipyard. The Operations Manager has left the place and the company has not appointed anyone to look after the boats, said Swain. The crew of the seven boats is now idling.
Meanwhile, tourists have asked the BNP authorities to make the catamarans operational.
DFO of Rajnagar mangrove (forest) and wildlife division, Bimal Prasanna Acharya, said the boats were operational last month, and that the matter came to his notice only recently. He said he would look into the matter.
PNN