Ahmedabad: Many tourist spots in Gujarat have begun to open during the phased process of unlocking after COVID-induced lockdown.
However, the number of tourists has not yet increased.
Seaplane, train, ropeway services at various tourist destinations which include the world’s tallest Statue of Unity and the ropeway on mount Girnar are also witnessing decreases in footfalls due to fear of the new variants of the virus.
For the wellbeing of passengers, four coaches have been removed from MEMU train and a fast electric train service was started to encourage tourists from all over the country to visit Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s dream project, the world’s tallest Statue of Unity.
Four MEMU passenger trains operate daily from Vadodara to Kevadia. Earlier, the train used to have 12 coaches but with the decline in a number of passengers, the number of coaches has been reduced to 8 now.
In the last three days, only 600 passengers had taken the train from Vadodara to go to Kevadia.
Even local commuters are unhappy by the railway’s decision not to provide halts at intermediary stations.
Only on the first day of the service on 17th the train had halted at Chanod railway station. Railways PRO Khemraj Meena told ETV Bharat that three trains begin from Pratapnagar for Kevadia every day.
The fare from Vadodara to Kevadia is Rs 35 and to Dabhoi is Rs 25.
In the last three days following a decrease in the number of passengers, the number of coaches of the train has been reduced from 12 to 8.
Read:Statue of Unity: FIR for not depositing ticket money in bank
Limit on the number of tickets increased to encourage visitors to the Statue of Unity.
The Statue of Unity at Kevadia was closed for the public for eight months in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi opened the Statue of Unity for the public on October 31, 2020.
To enable tourists from all over the country to come to Kevadia, a limited number of tickets were issued online from November 1. 2,500 entry tickets were issued for tourists and 500 tickets for viewers’ gallery in five slots.
If the tourists do not get online tickets online and yet come to visit the Statue of Unity, the administration has made arrangements to allow the entry of 7,000 visitors and has removed the limit of entry tickets. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, to attract tourists, had on October 30 and 31 inaugurated various attractive features including the seaplane service and recently the country’s first green railway station at Kevadia. Eight new trains were flagged off for tourists desiring to visit Kevadia.
Looking at the number of tourists between October 31, 2020 till now, there were 20,000 visitors in November, 37,000 in December and 12,000 between January 1 and January 22, 12,000 tourists every day. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had expressed the hope that 100,000 tourists would visit the Statue of Unity every day.
Girnar ropeway remained closed for more than four times in 90 days since it was started
The longest ropeway of Asia at Girnar, Junagadh was opened by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on October 24.
It is going to complete three months in a few days. During this period, the operating company was compelled to close the ropeway service more than four times in the morning.
An official on duty Manoj Pawar told ETV Bharat that because of high-velocity wind during the winter atop the Girnar mountain, the ropeway service had to be suspended twice in the morning in the last three months.
In the first week of its start, the ropeway ran with full capacity. It did four trips in one hour and till now the highest 3,000 number of people enjoyed the ride on a single day. However, the number of people started declining and after Diwali the number has dwindled drastically. From January 1 to January 22, an average of 1,500 people used the ropeway every day to go atop the mount Girnar. In the last 22 days, 35,000 people have enjoyed ropeway ride.
Seaplane service too affected
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had started the ambitious seaplane service on October 31 as its sole passenger from the Narmada reservoir at Kevadia to the Sabarmati riverfront in Ahmedabad. However, within a month of the inaugural flight, the service remained close twice for maintenance as the seaplane is as old as 50 years. ETV Bharat had sent emails to the operators of the seaplane service to know how many people had used the service to go to Kevadia but there has been no reply from them.
All the above three projects are Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s dream projects aimed at promoting tourism.
