Veli tourist village awaits renovation

Thiruvananthapuram: Though Rs 5 entry charge at Veli tourist village justifies the facilities inside, the blighted lake and seaside picnic spot have become a shadow of what it was. The once well-landscaped tourist village is in a shambles due to lack of maintenance. The sidewalls that separate sections of garden yearn for a fresh coat of paint. The potted plants and a recently built viewing gallery near the lake are decently maintained. However, the statues have not been washed. The iconic floating bridge has weeds growing underneath, and floating restaurant awaits refurbishment.

This plight is despite the fact that thousands of city dwellers and domestic tourists throng the area to catch a glimpse of Veli lake meeting the Arabian Sea.“We had come here on a seven-day Kerala trip for children in our school. We had a nice time boating, but it's too congested,” said Arijit Malik, a school teacher from Udaipur. The toilets including the electronic ones also remain of poor condition.

As per earlier promises made by power minister Kadakampally Surendran, soon after the elections, the renovation project was to be launched in the first week of October. The project includes modernization of the children’s and music park. The proposed International Music Academy by Sarod legend Amjad Ali Khan was also to come up. “We are preparing to tender the work on many facilities including a musical fountain. The work will begin soon,” said a senior tourism department official.

Not many takers for Akkulam tourist park

The Akkulam tourist park was opened by Onam as promised, but barring the users of swimming pools, not many city dwellers have returned to the picnic spot.
The park employees say the lower turnout was due to the fact that boat services have not been resumed after clearing Akkulam lake of water hyacinth. “We have many people using our swimming pool. Families come with balloons, not to swim but just to play in water.  But the park does not have many visitors,” said a District Tourism Promotion Council (DTPC) official.

Akkulam tourist village.The  lush green children’s park has several jungle gyms, trapeze and slides apart from pond. “Around 3.25 lakh cubic metres of sand was  removed from the lake in the last five years. However, the water hyacinth explosion has not been contained to make Akkulam navigable,” the official added. The government had recently announced a plan to start a business park near Akkulam village and the Ulloor-Akkulam road widening has been completed to complement the project.