Mysuru: The Department of Tourism has chalked out a master plan to develop tourism in and around Mysuru district by giving a special thrust for development of Lakes and heritage tourist spots. As part of the plan, the Department has decided to develop Kukkarahalli Lake, Karanji Lake Nature Park, Lingambudhi Lake and other water bodies in the first phase of project implementation.
Tourism Director B. Ramu inspected these Lakes along with Department officials to give a fillip to development works recently. There are plans to upgrade Kukkarahalli Lake and Lingambudhi Lake on the lines of Karanji Lake after upgrading the water bodies with boating, improving greenery, parking, amusement parks and other tourist-friendly facilities.
The Department has prepared a detailed plan to take up the works in two phases with an intention of attracting both domestic and international tourists. It has been decided to give priority to development of walking path, children amusement parks, drinking water, other recreation and basic facilities like clean toilets at tourist spots, Ramu said.
As lakhs of people visit Mysuru Zoo and the adjoining Karanji Lake every year, the Department has worked out a plan to divert these visitors to Kukkarahalli and Lingambudhi Lakes too after development, he added.
Butterfly Park in the offing
A world-class aquarium will be constructed between Mysuru Zoo and Karanji Lake and this will be a star attraction once completed. The aquarium, being built by the Zoo Authority of Karnataka, will be of international standards with exotic lightings, special fish species housed in glass surroundings.
Plans are afoot to revive the Butterfly Park inside Karanji Lake. Interestingly, the ambitious Butterfly Park that was inaugurated some years back at Karanji Lake has been closed now for public. Measures like increasing the height of fencing besides improving ground covering and preventing crocodiles from coming out of Lake will be taken up, he said.
Parking
The Tourism Department had come up with plans to tackle parking problem by building a multi-level parking lot in front of the Zoo, but the work has been delayed due to technical glitches. Currently, the Department has facilitated parking on the East side entrance gate of Dasara Exhibition Grounds.
Sandalwood Oil Factory
In the second phase of the master plan, the Tourism Department has decided to take up the improvement of heritage tourist sites, Government Sandalwood Oil Factory in Mysuru besides developing Melukote in Mandya District and Shravanabelagola in Hassan District.
Follow Star of Mysore on Instagram www.instagram.com/starofmysore
This post was published on October 27, 2018 6:38 pm