After a halt of six months, tourism is slowly picking up at Hampi. The Ballari district administration and Hampi World Heritage Area Management Authority (HWAMA) have chosen to expand footfall in the days to drop by presenting better offices for travellers.
If everything goes as planned, world heritage site Hampi will soon have a well-equipped diesel buggy train to attract more tourists.
HWAMA commissioner PN Lokesh said that tourists were allowed to visit Hampi from last month. “almost 150 to 200 tourists are visiting Hampi daily. More than 800 tourists flock to the world heritage site during weekends. We have already introduced battery operated vehicles for the convenience of the tourists and many plans are afoot to improve the facilities in Hampi,” he said.
“As a first step, a trackless diesel train service will be launched either in the first or second week of November as installation work is under way,” said Lokesh.
“A Bengaluru-based company is installing the trackless diesel train which will have 42 seats. Once the train is operational, we will charge a nominal fee of Rs 300 per person. Once tourists board this train, they can see all important monuments which come in the 7km stretch from Kamalapur Mayur Bhuvaneshwari temple to Veerupaksha temple. There will be five stops on the route including at the Queen’s bath, Kamal Mahal and Krishna temple. During their journey, tourists can also make use of battery-operated vehicles at each stop to visit monuments,” he added.
Lokesh said the diesel train will be operated on a revenue-based system. The company which is installing the train must share some revenue with HWAMA every month. The district administration and HWAMA will regularly monitor the functioning of the train to ensure the safety of tourists, he added.
“We will also ensure all precautionary measures suggested by the government of India to contain the spread of Covid-19 are strictly being followed while operating the train,” said Lokesh.
