Chetpet eco park sees steep fall in number of visitors as mercury level shoots up

Officials of Tamil Nadu Fisheries Development Corporation (TNFDC), which maintains the park, admit that they are receiving fewer number of visitors during daytime and none was taking boat rides. 

Sources said that water in the lake is gradually depleting. The eco park would usually attract 500 to 600 visitors a day. During weekends and holidays, the number will go up to 2,000. However, with the mercury levels soaring, the park is now receiving about 100 to 200 visitors a day. Moreover, the 15 boats at the facility remain anchored at the jetty as there are no takers. 

“With the temperatures gradually increasing, most people prefer to remain indoors. We don’t receive many visitors from 10 am to 4 pm. But we do receive visitors between 5 pm and 7 pm although, they rarely go for boat riding,” said a staff, who is in-charge of the park. 

The eco park is a deserted place nowadays. The visitors not using the boat is leading to loss of revenue. Earlier, the park used to generate a revenue of around Rs 1,00,000 a day. Now, it has dropped to around Rs 50,000, said another staff.

A senior official, TNFDC, on condition of anonymity, said that the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC). was re-filling the lake. “There will be less number of visitors to the park during summer. We are also taking up renovation works following cyclone Vardah and repairing the railings as well,” he added.

Meanwhile, visitors complained that the officials concerned should make the place cooler. “More trees should be planted in the premises as several were uprooted by Vardah. A number of spots in the park are poorly lit. There is a need to erect mast lamps in the park. Such improvements would attract more visitors,” said N Kumaravel, a college student.