Nagpur: The forest department has announced the closure of Bor Tiger Reserve (TR)’s Bordharan gate on Sunday, following Wardha district collector’s weekend lockdown orders. This decision by the forest department will continue to remain in effect till further orders. To partially offset this, Adegaon gate, which comes under Nagpur district, will be opened from February 23 onwards.
In Wardha, the weekend lockdown begins from Saturday, 8pm and shall continue till Monday morning. This effectively rules out any chances of Sunday safari in either morning or evening slots. And with Bor TR’s weekly holiday being a Monday, the closure from Wardha side gets extended.
This means that from Wardha district’s Bordharan gate, safari bookings will be done from Tuesdays to Saturdays only.
From Nagpur district’s Adegaon gate, safaris can be booked from Tuesday to Sunday.
Ravikiran Govekar, Pench chief conservator of forests (CCF) and field director said booking for Adegaon gate will initially be offline only. “At least for the inaugural week the safari bookings will have to be made offline. The online booking facility shall be operational a week after that,” said Govekar.
He added that some minor changes need to be made in the online booking facility, which won’t take too long. “Adegaon gate had been closed till now for tourists. Since it’s in Nagpur district we can operate on Sundays as well,” said Govekar.
Those who had already done safari booking for Sunday at Bordharan gate will get a refund. Forest officials added that tourists have to ensure that all safety norms for Covid-19 are being followed.
The recent spike in Covid-19 cases led to authorities in Wardha district going for a weekend lockdown.