Flamingo festival concludes

Thousands of visitors, students and tourists visited the Pulicat and Nelapattu bird sanctuaries on the final day of the Flamingo bird festival held at the lake town of Sullurupeta in Nellore district here on Sunday.

Boating rides arranged for the tourists at BV Palem in the Pulicat lake turned out to be a major attraction with the visitors getting a chance to go deep into the waters and see the migratory birds.

Some visitors, who came from Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, visited the Irukam island in the middle of the brackish water lake. The island has figured in the government’s proposals for large-scale development of tourism infrastructure like resorts.

The Revenue and the Forest departments availed the services of the local fishermen, boat operators and swimmers to run the boats for the convenience of the visitors on this occasion.

Schoolchildren and students arrived in specially arranged buses amid arrangements made for basic amenities like drinking water supply and sanitation for them at Nelapattu. They were treated to a variety of cultural programmes and also a snake exhibition.

The forest officials provided insights into the habitat and nature of different snakes and how their venom affects human beings and animals. They explained to the students about the reptiles, animals and birds which have made Nelapattu their home.

Minister for Forests Bojjala Gopalakrishna Reddysaid that it was the government’s intention to make Nelapattu more tourist-friendly by widening the bunds and approach roads to the bird viewpoints there. Mr. Reddy said that an environmental knowledge centre would be developed at Nelapattu to enable students and researchers to make use of the facilities.

Stating that the Forest Department would have to play a key role, Mr. Gopalakrishna Reddy said that eco tourism initiatives would have to be given a greater fillip if the tourists from all over the country and other parts of the world were to be attracted to the State.

A large number of students visit Pulicat and Nelapattu bird sanctuaries on the concluding day of the bird festival