Floods hit boating in Krishna
File photo of boat ride in Krishna River
Vijayawada: Besides throwing normal life out of gear, this rainy season has caused revenue loss to Andhra Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation (APTDC). Due to rains, the APTDC couldn't conduct boat rides, couldn't run cottages and canteens.
Usually during Dasara festival season, both locals and non-local visitors enjoy boat ride in Krishna river. Income from boat rides is one of the important sources of revenue for the APTDC, which operates boats Bodhisiri, Bhavani, Krishnaveni, Jagadamba, Amarapani and sky jet etc.
The visitors love to visit Bhavani island on weekends. Around 2,000 visitors will visit this island on weekends. The APTDC collects Rs 120 per ticket for the boat ride. Besides, the APTDC also gets revenue on cottages and canteen it runs at Berm Park and Bhavani island. The entry ticket for Berm Park is Rs 10 per head.
But the irrigation department didn't give permission to operate boats in Krishna river due to threat of floods. Irrigation officials were afraid that boats will get washed away in floodwaters during rainy season, particularly when thousands of cusecs of floodwater released. Prakasam barrage is receiving huge inflows of floodwater from catchment areas and reservoirs like Pulichintala and Nagarjuna Sagar for the past two months.
The APTDC operates 12 boats from the Berm park.
It's estimated that around Rs one crore income was lost every month due to the non-operating of boats in Krishna river. Normally this income will be used to pay salaries and for the maintenance of boats, offices, Berm Park and Bhavani island.
When contacted, an official supervising boating at Berm Park in Bhavanipuram, said the APTDC is losing huge income due to floods. He said there is a scope to resume the boating operations in 10 days as floodwaters may come down. He said more than two months passed since boating was halted in Krishna river. This year, floodwater inflows started in July/August, continuing till date.
Heavy rains in Telangana State also resulted in the increasing of inflows into Prakasam barrage. Heavy rains due to low-pressure formed over Bay of Bengal also resulting in heavy rains in the catchment areas of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana States.