Pachamalai in the district, about 90 km from here on the border of Tiruchi and Salem districts, has turned to be a centre of tourist attraction, thanks to the eco-tourism project implemented by the Forest Department.
With the completion of the work on the construction of tree-top houses, dormitory and interpretation centre besides development of waterfalls, the whole of Pachamalai has turned to be a tourism-attraction centre. “The strength of the tourists visiting the hills and camping here has been maximum during the weekend. The dormitory is almost full to its capacity,” says aForest Department official.
The Department had provided various amenities to the tourists as part of the eco-tourism project implemented under the Tamil Nadu Bio-diversity and Greening Programme. The work was taken up about three years ago and was completed about six months back.
The serene climate and landscape in the area has been adding to the attraction.
Tourists’ demands
A section of tourists at the hills told The Hindu on Friday that there was a strong case for opening a petrol pump in the hills. Uppliyapuram and Athur are the major towns where petrol pumps are located. Among them, Uppliyapuram is nearer to the tourism area. “We advise the tourists to prefer Uppliyapuram to Athur,” say the Forest officials.
Further, there has been a strong demand for starting restaurants. Although the canteen run by the Forest Department caters to the demands, the need for starting restaurants and hotels has been on the rise, they say indicating that the strength of tourists visiting the Pachamalai hills is likely to increase in the future.
According to official sources, there has been a plan to set up a petrol pump in the Pachamalai area through cooperative society. Once the proposal is cleared and approved, the work on setting up the pump will be taken up. Presently, the waterfalls has dried up due to failure of monsoon. But, once the monsoon sets in, the falls will realise copious flow, the source adds.
