PONDA: The Dudhsagar waterfalls saw the lowest number of footfalls at just 110, on Sunday, on the first day of the start of the tourist season to the spot. Even during the 2019 season, the falls had registered 315 visitors, but this year’s number is lowest since the falls opened for public in 1989. In 2018, as many as 1,127 people had visited the falls on day one of the season.
Dudhsagar falls is a four-tiered cascade located in the Bhagwan Mahaveer Sanctury in Dharbandora taluka. With a height of 310m (1,017 feet), it is among India’s tallest waterfalls.
Every year thousands of visitors, both domestic and foreign, throng here to get a glimpse of the milky waters cascading into the lake at its foot.
However, this year opening day saw a weak response. Only 22 jeeps found business as compared to 45 on day one last year, chairman of the Dudhsagar Tour Operators’ Association (DTOA) Dilip Mairekar said.
He said possibly tourists were unaware that the season opened on Sunday as there was no announcement regarding the start of the season. He, however, expressed confidence that footfalls would increase once the news got around.
A total of 431 jeeps have been registered with the wildlife board to ferry passengers at the foot of the Dudhsagar falls. This year, the wildlife division has restricted the number of visitors in a jeep to five, instead of the earlier seven, to avert spread of Coronavirus pandemic.
The reduction in number of visitors on Sunday saw the charges for ferrying passengers to the falls raised to Rs 700 per person against the earlier Rs 500.
Mairekar, however, said the forest department has increased its gate fee from Rs 30 to Rs 100 per person from this year which has led to hike in jeep fare.
The forest department has also restricted the number of jeep trips to 170 per day during weekdays and 225 per day on weekends, since last year. The move is aimed at restricting tourist footfall to a total of 1,190 (170 jeeps) during weekdays and 1,575 (225 jeeps) on weekends.
Forest officials said wildlife’s welfare comes first in a sanctuary and that allowing more vehicles would result in disturbing the wildlife.