Kendrapara: The Bhitarkanika National Park here has been fully opened for public from today. However, a standard operating procedure (SOP) has been issued by the forest department to be followed by the employees and visitors in order to keep Covid-19 at bay.
The park was closed by the forest department in March due to the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic.
The national park was earlier re-opened partially on October 1 only for visitors who had booked cottages for overnight stay at Dangamal Nature Camp while adhering to all the Covid-19 protocols.
Today, despite inclement weather, around 20 tourists visited the park, informed the Bhitarkanika park authorities.
Keeping the Covid-19 pandemic in view, maximum 500 visitors will be allowed inside Bhitarkanika National Park per day. The cap also applies for visitors coming by boat from Gupti, Khola and Chandbali entry points by road.
Besides, queue system with adequate space between visitors shall be maintained at all entry points and ticket booking counters. No mask, no entry rule to be strictly enforced inside the park premises.
The authorities will display several dos and don’ts for the visitors at the entrance and other strategic locations in the forest, as per the SOP.
Adequate number of forest guards have been deployed to enforce the regulations and sanitisers have been placed at several places in the park.
Entry tickets can be purchased online by visiting the website- www.ecotourodisha.com and physically from the counters.
(Edited By Pradeep Singh)
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