The Forest department has planned to operationalise four catamaran luxury boats meant for tourists in Bhitarakanika in December-January next.These boats are lying idle since they were procured from Goa over a year ago.
According to Rajnagar DFO Bimal Prasanna Acharya, the Forest department procured the boats from Goa at a cost of 5.51 crore funded by the World Bank under Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) project. The boats were meant to provide a luxurious drive to the tourists to enjoy the flora and fauna of Bhitarkanika National Park.
Each boat consists of two bedrooms, besides a balcony with comfortable seating arrangement, a bathroom, a dining hall and a kitchen. The boats are like floating hotels to make sightseeing memorable. The boats have solar lamps and fans. Each boat has a capacity to carry 20 tourists.
Besides comfort, the eco-friendly soundless fibre vessels are equipped with foolproof safety mechanism. The boats are built to ensure safe travel in crocodile-infested water bodies. But as some formalities were not completed, the boats could not be used during the last tourist season.
For their maintenance for a period of three years, the Forest department had earlier provided Rs 47.48 lakh to the Goa-based company from where the boats were procured. But, no maintenance has been done and as a result, a few have developed starting snags. Besides, since the boats are long and wide in shape, they have not able to move in all the water bodies within the Bhitarkanika. The authorities are also finding it hard to get expert sailors to run the boats.
"Meanwhile, two bidders have been short listed for outsourcing. Hopefully, if everything goes as usual, then the four catamaran boats are going to be operational in December. The tourists would able to avail the luxurious boats on hire," DFO Acharya divulged.
He informed that the boats would be made operational for the tourists on Dangamal-Gupti and Khola-Dangamal water route between December and January.