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Tourism on Vadarevu Beach ebbing away
Popularly known as ‘Mini Mumbai’, Chirala in Prakasam district receives a large number of footfalls on any ordinary day when compared to the nearby towns. Cloth merchants, wholesalers and retailers thronged the city of weavers for a long time from Guntur, Krishna, Nellore, Chittoor and Nalgonda districts on a daily basis.
Chirala: Popularly known as ‘Mini Mumbai’, Chirala in Prakasam district receives a large number of footfalls on any ordinary day when compared to the nearby towns. Cloth merchants, wholesalers and retailers thronged the city of weavers for a long time from Guntur, Krishna, Nellore, Chittoor and Nalgonda districts on a daily basis.
By the time they get their orders of clothes ready in packages, merchants spent their leisure hours at the handlooms, speaking to the weavers. The most blissful escape was enjoying the midday breeze with feet in the sand, observing foamy tides in the deep blue sea at the Vadarevu beach.
Over the years, the town had spread its area, opened different colleges to welcome youth from all over the state and became a popular tourist cum shopping attraction.
Now, Chirala is a bustling town with a vast beach line and the people have to sit in the sand and stare at the sea, just like the old days. Though the government understands the potential of tourism here, the concerned department officials have not initiated works on the infrastructure and arrangements for the public.
G Visalskshmi said, “We used to come here in our childhood during the Sankranti and summer holidays, when the parents were busy with their shopping. Now we are here with our children but find there is a severe scarcity of facilities. There are no functioning toilets, not even dress changing rooms at the least.”
On an average, Vadarevu beach received about 1500 to 2000 visitors, everyday. During the vacations, the number almost doubles. People coming from afar want to take a break in their journey to bask in nature.
But there are no proper facilities from the tourism department yet. M Subrahmanyam said, “The beach area is mostly occupied by fishermen and the smell of fish. There is no sanitation and the surroundings are unclean. There are no furnished rooms for stay for a day or two here and I do not understand why tourism department is willingly neglecting this place.”
Paying heed to the public’s wants, if the government could provide infrastructure and facilities to stay, Chirala beach would prosper as a popular tourist destination near the state capital and find a place in the tourist attractions in the state soon.
