Tourists lose interest in Sonakata Eco-park
Five deer, out of 13, have been still missing from Sonakata Eco-park in Tengragiri reserve forest since they escaped on August 12 after a section of their cage collapsed due to continuous rain and tidal surge.
Md Zahid Pramanik, beat officer of Sakhina Forest, said there were 13 deer in the cage when around 20 feet of the boundary wall collapsed due to tidal surge from the Bay and heavy rain, adding that seven deer escaped through the damaged section and fled into the forest. Two deer were recaptured the next day and they are trying to catch the rest, he added.
Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Ajit Kumar Rudro said the damaged section of the deer cage has been temporarily repaired, and he requested the authorities concerned to repair it permanently.
Established in 1960, Tengragiri reserve forest covers around 13,634 acres of land on the beach at Sakhina Forest Beat in Taltali upazila under Barguna.
The ministry of environment and forests set up Sonakata Eco-park in the reserve forest in 2010-11 and 2011-12 fiscal years at a cost of Tk 2.64 crore.
Hundreds of tourists from home and abroad visit the forest as well as the Eco-park every year. Many people also come to the forest as the authorities have set up two picnic spots there.
Recently, tourists are reluctant to visit the reserve forest as the facilities, including the wooden bridges, have become unfit for use due to lack of renovation.
Most sleepers of nine wooden bridges that have been set up in different points on the walkways in the forest have fallen off the bridges, much to the suffering of visitors.
Abdus Sakur, a tourist from Khulna, said the eco-park needs renovation as its facilities are badly damaged. If the authorities fail to renovate the structures immediately, tourists will lose interest in visiting the park, he added.
The wooden bridges and the facilities are badly damaged as they have not been renovated since they were built, the DFO said. They have requested the higher authorities concerned to repair those, he added.
The soothing forest is losing its beauty as natural disasters -- super cyclone Sidr in 2007, Aila in 2009, Mahasen in 2013, Roanu in 2016 and Mora this year -- caused serious damage to it. Around 2,000 acres of the forest and over one lakh trees were washed away in the last 56 years by the cyclones and tidal surges.
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