TIRUPATHUR: The lack of proper maintenance of the amphitheatre in Yelagiri has not only left a dent in the tourist experience at the hill station but also turned it into a dump yard for ignorant travellers. A part of the Yelagiri Hills Tourist Development Project in 2007, the amphitheatre's life span was short-lived.
Located in Punganur near Yatri Nivas, the amphitheatre was part of a beautification project and was built at the cost of Rs 40 lakh. The hill station in Tirupathur district comprises 14 hamlets and has a population of around 6,000 people. According to officials, at least 1,000 tourists visited Yelagiri from Tamil Nadu and Karnataka on Saturday and Sunday. But the public and tourist population last got the taste of the theatre in 2008, when it was constructed under the initiative of former collector Dharmendra Pratap Yadav.
Despite coming with a seating capacity of 150, the theatre could not sustain itself. Only two events were held there the same year before it was deemed unutilised. "One was a Christmas event, and another was an official event at Yelagiri. After that, no event occurred in that amphitheatre," said a hotel owner in Yelagiri.
A self-help group and the tourism office were bidding for the theatre, but Yadav, the then collector, handed over its responsibility to the former. "The Amphitheater could have been maintained better if it had been handed over to the tourism office here, which was active at that time. The group did not manage it properly," a source said. The tourism office shut down during the pandemic and never reopened following an issue over unpaid staff. "Only one person is sitting there. He is also not much help to the tourist," said a source.
The amphitheatre is now surrounded by bushes. TNIE visited the now desolate place and spotted liquor bottles, snakes, and insects in it. Owners of hotels around the theatre told TNIE that tourists often dumped liquor bottle, among other, in the theatre. Yelagiri Hills block development officer R Thinakaran said, "We will start the renovation shortly." Tirupathur district collector D Baskara Pandian also testified to the same.