Residents living near Ooty Lake and Boat House want the Udhagamandalam Municipality to impose fines on tourists found littering the area around these tourists spots.
Residents said tourist inflow to these spots peaks during the summer season and weekends. After visiting these, many tourists stay for a few hours along the road surrounding the lake and also have food there. This leads to littering along the road. B. Saravanan, a resident of Fern Hill near the boat house said that some tourists even cook meals using LPG and kerosene stoves, which pose the risk of a fire. “The municipality and district administration states that cooking in the open and picnicking is prohibited, yet no action is taken against tourists who break the rules,” he said.
Sanitary workers who clean the areas surrounding the lake lament the lack of action against tourists, stating that though they manage to clean the roads every morning, tourists continue to litter every day. “While it is our job to clean the roads every day, we feel like our work is quite useless, as right after we clean a particular spot, tourists and even resorts operating around the lake dump garbage at the same place,” said a sanitary worker.
Residents also complain of plastic waste being dumped by the side of the road. “The shops operating along the lake should not be allowed to sell water or soft drinks in plastic bottles. Eventually, most of these bottles will find their way into the lake,” said S Saran, another resident.
Municipal officials said that information about any resort, hotel or tourist found littering could be passed on to them, and action would be taken. Separate teams formed to clean these areas were clearing garbage from the roads surrounding the lake.