BENGALURU: The state’s forests and safaris had been reopened to tourists after nearly three months. However, with the increasing number of Covid cases, the local administrations of various districts have decided to prohibit the entry of tourists yet again.
Mysuru District Commissioner on Thursday ordered that HD Kote be closed to tourists. The closure of HD Kote would mean that the two prime tiger reserves — Bandipur and Nagarahole — will be out of bounds for tourists. Kabini, which is managed by the Jungle Lodges and Resorts, has been shut too.
Mysuru Deputy Commissioner Abhiram Sankar told The New Indian Express that these orders were issued in view of the increasing number of Covid cases and they will stay shut until further orders are issued. He said that all tourist spots, including safaris, in Mysuru district have been closed. He informed
Dammanakatte, locally known as poor man’s Kabini, will be shut too.
Last week, the local administrations of Chikkamagaluru, Chamarajanagar and Coorg decided to place a self-imposed lockdown, prohibiting the entry of tourists. This led to the closure of hotels, resorts and safaris in Bhadra, Bhagamandala, K Gudi and Dubare. The only tiger reserve which is open for tourists now is Kali Tiger Reserve. However, entry has been restricted for people from Bengaluru and other districts which have a large number of Covid cases.
A forest department official said, “The final decision to reopen these places, as per the health department and Disaster Management Act, rests with the local administrations. Anyhow, forest guest houses were not open for citizens even when the lockdown norms were relaxed for tourists.” Mysuru DC’s orders left a lot of Bengalureans in a foul mood.
Some enthusiastic wildlife lovers said this felt like Bengalureans were under a lockdown imposed by district administrations as they weren’t welcome anywhere. Those travelling from Bengaluru are prohibited from entering any tourist spot in the state. “The only getaway was wildlife safaris and these too are shut for Bengalureans,” said Shobhit B, a software professional and an avid traveler.
Tourists banned at homestays, hotels in Mysuru dist
Mysuru: As coronavirus cases are increasing every day, Deputy Commissioner Abhiram G Sankar has ban banned the entry of tourists to HD Kote taluk, which borders Kerala. Resorts, hotels and homestays are restricted from extending any facilities to tourists. Abhiram has also written a letter to elected representatives to drop plans of participating in earth-breaking ceremonies and inauguration functions for some time. The DC has appealed to people to restrict any gathering to less than 20 people, that too under unavoidable circumstances.