THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: With the monsoon setting in, fog-covered Ponmudi is attracting tourists in hordes. On Sunday, however, the numbers were staggering, leaving authorities with no option but to send 30 per cent of its visitors back. According to officers, traffic en route to Ponmudi was far beyond the hill station’s traffic capacity.
Traffic snarls were witnessed from Kallar nearly 15 km away from the hill station. “Buses carrying children from Hyderabad and Wayanad were sent back by 2.30 pm,” said Vishnu V S, a biker who visited Ponmudi on Sunday. According to him, the ride from the 8th to 22nd hairpin curves was a challenge, forcing a few to cancel their ride. “When you finally reached the destination, the long queue at the ticket counter made the experience worse, especially for women and children,” he said.
Though authorities closed the check post for a while during the day owing to the traffic, it was later opened as bikers began protesting. “We reached the first check post by 3 pm. It was an uphill task to reach there. We had to travel another two hours to reach the hilltop owing to the traffic congestion,” said Bharath Kiriyath, a visitor.
According to Harikumar, who works with KTDC’s Golden Peak Resort, the climate at Ponmudi was at its best on Saturday. “The pictures shared on social media on Saturday could have encouraged many people to visit the place on Sunday. There was no shortage of rooms, however, since 90 pc of visitors were bikers,” said Hari.
The situation continued on Monday. “Nearly 500 vehicles carrying tourists arrived on Monday. However, it was not as crowded when compared to Sunday’s traffic. There was no major hindrance at the check post since guides were given specific instructions on managing the crowd,” said Ajay Sreenivas, Vana Samrakshana Samithy tourist guide.
ONLINE BOOKING ON THE CARDS
To overcome traffic hurdles, the Forest Department plans to introduce an online booking system. “Though 30 per cent of the vehicles were sent back on Sunday, we were able to manage the crowd on Monday. Announcements in this regard will be made soon,” said Sunil Kumar S, section forest officer, Ponmudi Eco-Tourism.