The heat is on! Get ready for summer festival at Tampara

By SUNIL PATNAIK (The Telegraph)

Pictures by Gopal Krishna Reddy (The Telegraph)

Berhampur: The tranquil and scenic backwaters of Tampara, a lake near Chatrapur, the district headquarter of Ganjam, will soon bustle with visitors. A summer festival to be held at the serene settings of this water body in April has been announced by the Odisha Tourism Development Corporation. Tampara is situated on National Highway 5 and is 25km away from Berhampur. It was designated as a tourist spot in 2008. “It is a one-of-its-kind site in eastern India, with tremendous tourist potentiality, and is slowly developing as the prime water sport destination in this region. At present, the 5.8km-long and 670m-wide lake is used for water sports and boating,” said Krushna Chandra Nishank, tourist officer the in-charge who is also the district culture officer of Ganjam. At present, it has a boat club, with two water scooters; five paddle boats, kayaks, sailboats and wind surfing facilities. “We are planning to organise a summer festival here in April and renovate these water sports facilities to attract tourists,” said Nishank.

State chief secretary Bijay Kumar Patnaik had recently visited Tampara and directed to develop the mini-lake into a major eco-tourism centre.

The wetland will be developed under the ongoing Integrated Coastal Zone Management Project funded by the World Bank. The project authorities had already sanctioned Rs 1.20 crore to the corporation for this purpose, an official source said. Facilities such as parking, public conveniences, eco-parks, jetties, tents and cottages will be developed as part of the project. Besides, floating restaurants and cottages are also going to be set up, officials said. “We have vast resources at Tampara, including the beach, availability of the government land, green forests, sweet water body, administrative and police headquarters of the district at Chatrapur, Nolia, fishermen families at the nearby villages and the river mouth. We are also exploring the silk route link through Chilika, Palur, Potagada, Tampara, Gopalpur and Sonepur to attract more tourists,” Nishank said. “We have plans to construct one overbridge, one jetty, luxurious hotels or houseboats, food court for the tourists, art gallery and kiosks to promote local handicrafts, ticket counter for the tourists and parking slots,” he said.

The corporation has decided to promote Tampara and Pati Sonepur in Ganjam into eco-tourism centres. The department has already approached the revenue department to use 636 acres at Tampara and 64 acres at Pati Sonepur for the purpose. Tampara attracted 27,425 tourists in 2010 as against 26,755 in 2009 and 26,230 in 2008, official sources said. Hardly 1,200 people could use the boating facility in one year.

Source: The Telegraph