Munnar: About 8 lakh visitors are expected to flock to Munnar when the Neelakurinji plants bloom in next August, forest minister K Raju said.
The gregarious plants, endemic to the Munnar Hills, bloom only once in 12 years, drawing in visitors by the hordes. The hills will turn violet with the flowers between August and October.
This season, the forest department plans to increase visiting hours to the forest areas by two hours, the minister said, after talking to officers in Munnar about the arrangements in place.
Visitors will be allowed inside Rajamala, which is part of the Eravikulam National Park, from 7am to 5pm. Parking area will be marked in Munnar, from where visitors will be driven in special buses to the hills. The transport department and the police will put in place special arrangements for this.
The passes to the park will be sold online this time. At present, the forest department runs seven buses from the entrance of the park to Rajamala. Five more buses will be hired in peak season. More employees will be assigned to Rajamala.
Raju also said that the department intends to launch an awareness campaign to discourage visitors from smuggling away the fancy plants. Local self-government bodies will be consulted for better management of waste. E-toilets will be installed.
The forest department has held two consultative meetings to discuss the arrangements for the heavy flow of people. The Devikulam sub collector and the Munnar wildlife warden will coordinate different departments to implement the infrastructure development projects.
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