Visitors to waterfalls stuck in 7-km pile-up

Beckoning tourists from around the world to enjoy the splendour of monsoon in Karnataka, the Tourism department found itself at the receiving end on Sunday afternoon, due to the kilometres-long traffic jam near the Gaganachukki and Bharachukki Falls.

While the Gaganachukki Falls is in Malavalli taluk, Mandya district, Bharachukki Falls comes under Kollegal taluk, Chamarajanagar district. The Gaganachukki falls is maintained by the Hosahalli Gram Panchayat and the Tourism department.

Stuck in traffic jams spanning for more than six hours, the tourists and commuters between Bengaluru and Mysuru were fuming at the department over poor crowd management. A large part of the crowd is from Bengaluru, most of whom plan a one-day trip to the falls.

Lack of infrastructure around the waterfalls to accommodate the increased influx of tourists worsened the situation.

Vehicles piled up for over seven km, from the parking facility at Bharachukki.

Except for a couple of security persons, who were busy managing the parking area, there was no one to manage the crowd near the Gaganachukki Falls. There is just one hotel, which is open only on weekends.

Hemanth Kumar, a tourist from Tumakuru, said, “We started at around 12.30 pm from Bharachukki and it took four hours to cover a distance of three to four km. There was absolutely no crowd management and it was helter-skelter.”

Officials of both the tourism and forest departments acknowledged that the footfall, this year, has increased by 10-15%.

“Anticipating the crowd, we visited the falls on Wednesday and decided to improve the amenities. It is a popular tourist destination and the onus is on the district administration, including the local police, to manage and regulate the crowd and the traffic,” said B Ramu, director, Tourism department.

Tourism officials said they had held talks with the forest department, asking the latter to part with more space, so as to accommodate tourist vehicles. However, the forest officials could not oblige as the site is part of a wildlife sanctuary.

Since the waterfalls are only a seasonal phenomenon, there is not much in terms of infrastructure there. The falls lack seating arrangements, drinking water supply and toilets. The whole area is littered with garbage and plastic waste.

A local policeman on duty said the 8-km-long road from Gaganachukki to Bharachukki is narrow and the traffic goes out of control, with visitors to the Madhyaranga temple also choking the stretch. The adjacent NH-209 linking to Coimbatore is also packed with KSRTC buses on weekends.

A senior official from the Chamarajanagar district administration said, “We have made all arrangements to accommodate tourists ever since the beginning of monsoon. But the inflow of tourists is beyond our imagination and there were more heavy vehicles, which triggered traffic snarls on the narrow roads. However, home guards and local volunteers are trying their best to ease the situation.”