Road construction: till April 30, visitors cannot access the Pykara boat house in Tamil Nadu’s Nilgiris

Due to continuing road construction, the Pykara Boat House is now temporarily inaccessible to visitors as of Tuesday. Even though the road-laying project started a month ago, culvert construction forced guests who were headed to the boat house to turn around.

“We are laying a thar road for Rs 3 crore over a 1.5-kilometer stretch, and the funds for it were sanctioned under the Special Area Development Programme (SADP) by district collector M Aruna,” said representatives of the forest department. Along the route, we have also been building six culverts and drains. Nevertheless, authorization was withheld until April 30, the day the project was meant to be finished.

According to authorities in the forest department, the Thar road project is being carried out twenty years after visitors to the boat homes had difficulties because of the uneven roads. Since the Nilgiris Forest Division is in charge of both the road and the dam, the forest agency charges an entry fee per car.

That being said, the Tourism Development Corporation is in charge of implementing the boat services.

According to sources, during the season, between 300 and 350 automobiles and other vehicles pay an admission charge to access the boat house; during the off-season, around 100 vehicles enter the boat house.

Since there are no other ways to get to the Pykara boat house, sources from the Tamil Nadu Tourism Development Corporation (TTDC) said that they won’t be operational till April 30. Since it is the busiest time of year and schools are closed, they have also suffered a loss of income.