Ooty: Plea to use Government Botanical Garden entry fee to develop tourism

Ooty: A plea to divert the entry fee levied at the Government Botanical Garden (GBG) to develop tourism infrastructure in Ooty was made by Congress MLA of Ooty, R. Ganesh. He also wanted the hike in entry fee to be withdrawn immediately.

Stating that he had spoken about this and other related issues pertaining to the Ooty assembly constituency in the recently concluded TN legislative assembly session, Ganesh said that GBG is a world famed tourist attraction, where opportunity should be given to people from all walks of life to visit it to enjoy its beauty and heritage. Recently, the entry fee to the GBG has been hiked. It now costs Rs.40/- for adults and Rs.20/- for children. This should be immediately withdrawn. This fare should be cut down by at least 50 percent to help tourists/locals visit the GBG without feeling a pinch in their pockets, he noted.

In a year, the GBG in Ooty alone gets an income of a little over Rs. 10 crore by way of entry fee and fees for camera/videos. Since this fund flows to the GBG through tourists, a good chunk of this fee should be diverted to the Ooty municipality administration to develop tourism infrastructure and for laying good roads in town, he said, and added that this arrangement would pave the way for using the money spent by tourists to develop facilities for them.

He also said that it is a proven fact that most contagious and other diseases spread to children because they do not have the habit of washing of hands. Hence, the government should allot funds to buy soaps for government schools and nutritious meal scheme centres, to help children from poor families wash their hands and inculcate the hand washing habit.