Picnic spots overflowing with visitors

TIRUNELVELI All picnic spots in the district, especially the pleasure places along the perennial Tam

All picnic spots in the district, especially the pleasure places along the perennial Tamirabharani river, were overflowing with the visitors on Monday.

Since the public would go out in large number to the picnic spots in view of ‘maattu’ pongal, these places were virtually overflowing with huge crowd on Monday. Even the District Science Centre near the Collectorate at Kokkirakulam attracted a few hundred visitors.

While the villagers had gone to their lush green farms and the shady places close to the waterbodies of their hamlets, the first choice among the visitors was the Tamirabharani watercourse where they bathed, ate and spent the whole day with their families, relatives and friends.

 “I was just waiting desperately to spend this day with my cousins. It’s an electrifying experience,” said S. Subhash, a software engineer from Thatchanallur and settled down in Chennai, after taking bath in the Tamirabharani at Mukkoodal for a few hours.

Even though the erstwhile park near 65-year-old Manimuthar dam is full of bushes and wild growth, the public, after visiting the Manimuther Falls, cleaned small spaces under the shades of the trees according to their convenience and settled down there till 4.30 p.m. with their families and relatives.

 “This hitherto neglected space will have a fantastic ‘Biodiversity Park’ when the visitors come here next year on this day as we’ve proposed to create this park on 23 acres on an outlay of ₹ 7 crore with tourist-friendly amenities and recreational facilities for adventure lovers,” said Collector V. Vishnu.

 Police had made elaborate security arrangements in all these places, especially in the picnic spots close to the Tamirabharani and the waterbodies, to prevent unsavory incidents like drowning. Police had to take tough measures in a few places where drunkards tried to create ruckus.