A good monsoon has set the cash counters at Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) ringing, with 86,332 tourists visiting the urban forest during the past nine consecutive Sundays, helping generate funds of Rs40.9 lakh.
However, forest officials and environmentalists are concerned that an average of 650 four wheelers have been entering the park on each of these Sundays.
According to park the officials, on all Sundays between June 12 to August 8, a total number of 8,964 two wheelers entered the park generating a revenue of Rs3.31 lakh, while 6,466 four wheelers entered the park, generating a revenue of Rs9.44 lakh. In fact, naturalists visiting the park on Sundays claimed that the situation has not only become chaotic but also extremely disturbing for the wildlife due to such high number of vehicles plying in the forest.
On Sunday, August 7, the park witnessed the heaviest rush since rains and saw the highest number of tourists (12,101) visiting the park since June 12. Also the total number of vehicles to enter the park reached a whopping 2,405, which was again a record of sorts for this season and it included 857 four wheelers and 1,548 two wheelers.
"Forest officials need to clamp down on the number of vehicles entering the park as well as unruly tourists who not only drive recklessly at high speeds and even honk incessantly causing a lot of disturbances. There has to be heavy fine implemented so that the offenders feel the pinch," said Naturalist Krishna Tiwari.
Tiwari also added that given the lack of open spaces and green areas, people flock SGNP in large numbers, also during rains, the park has several water bodies flowing that becomes a major attraction. "It's a forest area, the roads are narrow and high number of vehicles only create chaos and hence its important that SGNP officials also sensitise visitors to explore the park on foot or buses provided by forest department," he said.
"We want maximum people to visit the park but it's true that vehicles have become a major issue as almost on all Sundays since June, we had to stop entry of vehicles at the gate by around 2pm, as there were already over 700 vehicles inside," said Range Forest Officer (RFO) Rajendra Pawar in charge of tourism area in SGNP, stating that their staff have been patrolling inside but given the sheer number of people it becomes difficult for them to manage.
As per park officials, the proposed parking area that was supposed to be built near the main gate of the park, using two-thirds of the existing Krishnagiri Upvan, which will accommodate over 300 vehicles too has been delayed.
On Sundays (From June 12 to August 7)
Number of Tourists: 86,332
Revenue Collected: Rs 36,46,694
Number of Two Wheelers: 8,964
Revenue Collected: Rs3,31,668
Number of Four Wheelers: 6,466
Revenue Collected: Rs9,44,036
Number of Heavy Vehicles: 17
Revenue Collected: Rs3,740
Total number of vehicles: 15,447
Revenue Collected: Rs12,79,444
Total Amount: Rs40,91,150
High Number
Highest number of Tourists
August 7: 13,029
Highest number of Two Wheelers
August 7: 1,548
Highest number of Four Wheelers
July 24: 960
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