Tourists visiting Mysuru can savour an aerial view of the city and the surrounding places through helirides during Dasara this year as well.
This was confirmed by the Assistant Director of Tourism H.P. Janardhan, who said that the cost for a 10-minute ride was being worked out and efforts would be made to make it affordable to reach out to more number of people. Helicopter joy rides last year exceeded all expectations in terms of public participation and hence it has been decided to introduce online booking of the rides from this year to manage the rush. The authorities will provide a link for helicopter ride booking on the official Dasara portal http://www.mysoredasara.gov.in/home besides making online reservation facility through “BookMyShow” where a dedicated page would be created for the purpose.
“Online booking is deemed inevitable as last year the rush was so much that people visiting the take off point at the Lalith Mahal helipad at 10 a.m. were forced to wait for their slot till 3 p.m.,” Mr. Janardhan said. The authorities expect a similar rush this year as well and hence want to avoid the hassles of crowd control through online booking.
In continuation of promoting adventure sports to introduce a slice of zing to Dasara festivities, adventure sports by way of water sports and parasailing will be held. While water-based sports will be held at the Varuna Lake on the outskirts of the city, the authorities are yet to identify a suitable place for parasailing, Mr. Janardhan said.
Water-based sports, including jet skiing, water rafting, banana boat ride, rappelling, and kayaking will be held at the Varuna Lake and is likely to be conducted under the guidance of trained personnel from General Thimayya National Academy of Adventure. All safety norms and regulations will be in place and divers will also be on standby to handle any exigencies. The place for conducting parasailing is yet to be finalised but it is most likely to be close to Chamundi Hills though the officials have ruled out the use of Mysuru airport. “The airport is out of bounds for adventure sports as the authorities expect flight operations to resume before Dasara. Besides, it is far from the city,” Mr. Janardhan added.
Incidentally, Mysuru has received budgetary support from the State government for promotion as an adventure tourism hub and the authorities see Dasara as an ideal platform to push the concept. During the 2017-18 State Budget, ₹5 crore was allocated for creating infrastructure for aqua sports. Varuna Lake — located about 10 km from the city on Mysuru-T.Narsipura highway— is reckoned to be ideal for it in view of having hosted Dasara aqua sports since many years.
