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Goods purchased for water sports are lying useless in Koderma’s Urwan.
Vikas, Koderma : With the aim of developing the famous Tilaiya Dam of the district as a tourist destination, five boats and other items have been purchased for an amount of about Rs 50 lakh to start water sports here. But today they are completely useless. In the eyes of the tourism department, these boats are running behind the lake restaurant located near Tilaiya Dam Urwan, but the reality is quite different from this. The situation is that the boats purchased at a cost of lakhs of rupees are at this place, but in the closed situation you can understand that the boats purchased at a cost of lakhs of rupees are, in a way, floating on government paper only. The situation is such that there is neither a proper road nor other facilities to reach the place marked for water sports.
In such a situation, how tourists will reach here is a big question in itself. Due to administrative apathy and lack of facilities, no one even knows that water sports had started here a few months ago. However, due to poor management, this beginning was halted and after a few days, the boats and other items purchased were lying in the dam area near the water treatment plant in Urwan. According to the information, on the initiative of the then DC Aditya Ranjan, a three-day free adventure sports was organized near Urwan in August 2022. After the good response to this event, the district administration decided to restore water sports facilities with the amount of Rs 58 lakh from the tourism development item. For this, in the first phase in January 2023, three speed boats and two kayak boats will be constructed with an amount of Rs 50 lakh. Under the contract for purchasing the goods through tender, the National Adventure Foundation delivered the goods at a site located near Urwan.
After this the goods remained lying there for a few months. When there was a problem in giving work to the local committee, an attempt was made to start the facility by forming Water Sports Committee Urwan and providing training to ten youth. According to the Tourism Department, water sports was started in June 2023 after the local committee deposited Rs 1.5 lakh out of the annual fixed amount of Rs 3 lakh. The remaining amount of Rs 1.5 lakh has to be deposited to the committee in December. Apart from this, when the BollywoodWallah team took stock of the spot marked for water sports, it was completely silent and there was neither a proper road to reach this place nor any other facilities. No one can even understand that water sports is going on here. When BollywoodWallah contacted and got information about the main member of the committee, Kuldeep Kumar, it was found that sports was started in June 2023, but it has been closed for about one and a half months.
Tourism officer claims, water sports is going on
When BollywoodWallah talked to District Tourism Officer Kailash Ram, he claimed that water sports is going on at the identified site. It was started several months ago and since then it has been operating continuously, but when BollywoodWallah saw the ground reality, the picture looked quite different.
Neither the road was repaired nor facilities provided, what should we do?
Kuldeep Kumar, the main member of Water Sports Committee Urwan, said that the district administration has given us the task of running water sports, but the promises made in the beginning have not been fulfilled till date. Even the road to reach the marked spot has not been repaired. This place can be reached through the bushes. The administration had assured to restore ticket counters, seating arrangements and other facilities along with helping in publicity, but nothing has happened. Today the situation is that the amount of Rs 1.5 lakh that we have collected together He too is on the verge of drowning. I am not able to understand how to deposit further money. The administration sends us divers to help if someone drowns somewhere, but we do not get wages for them either. After the murder of Sonali in Domchanch, there was talk of 40 thousand rupees for removing the dead body, till date not even a single penny has been received.
The situation can improve if the administration takes initiative
Vikas Kumar, member of Water Sports Committee Urwan, said that initially the boat was operated for a few days. About Rs 35-40 thousand came from this, which is lying in the Jamaat itself. It would have been good for us if the administration had restored the facilities here. We youth took training, but special Benefit Doesn’t seem to be happening. We want that if more people come, our income will increase, but until the facilities are not available, who will come here? We have ourselves displayed mobile numbers etc. at one or two places near the main road, so that if any tourist comes, we can contact them. Do it, but the response is negligible.
These items were purchased
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Eight seater rescue speed boat with remote control system and canopy: 02
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Life boat for rescue: 01
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Safety jacket for water sports: 50
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Floating jetty with railings: 16 square meters
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Tandem Kayak: 02
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Vehle Oras: 02
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Yolo Oras: 01
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Kayak Oars: 04
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Bilge Pump: 02
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Blast Horn: 02