District administration reopens tourism spots in Lonavla to public
Pune: The Pune district administration in a fresh order released on October 14 has reopened Bhushi dam and other tourist spots for tourism. District collector Rajesh Deshmukh issued the order stating that the tourist spots near dams and other places in the hill town will be open to the public.
Many of the 60,000 residents of Lonavla who are dependent on tourism for livelihood have claimed to have suffered huge losses and penury during the last six months of coronavirus lockdown.
“We were seeing overcrowding of the main market area of Lonavla and decided to open Bhushi dam and other places to tourists. However, the Covid-19 restrictions of social distancing and other safeguards will remain in place,” Deshmukh said.
The tourist places of Lonavla were completely shut since the announcement of lockdown and vehicles entering the tourist town were checked.
On August 5, following unlockdown guidelines and government permissions, many hotels in the hill town reopened. The tourist spots in the area remained shut and hotels have not been seeing many occupants.
The tourist belt of Lonavla stretches from Lonavla city, Lonavla rural, Kamshet and Vadgaon Maval police stations areas wherein multiple tourists spots in and around the Lonavla hill station are located. The picnic spots are accessible and frequented by people from Mumbai as well as Pune especially during monsoon season. The district collector had earlier ordered that the shops in Lonavla will remain open from 9 am to 9 pm from Monday.
During the past week, a number of tourists had made a beeline to Bhushi dam and Lion’s point at the weekend which sent the police and administrative machinery into a tizzy.
The overcrowding took place despite a tourist ban in the area. Crowds had surged following the rollback of e-passes of inter-district travel by the state government.
Sanjay Gawli, a hotel owner from Lonavla said, “Residents and tourists are not following the virus guidelines leading to overcrowding. The administration cannot do much and thought it prudent to open areas. The lifting of ban will boost tourist economy.”
