Chandigarh gets a reason to smile as the Administration has finally announced to resume boating at Sukhna Lake, Chandigarh with effect from 19th March, 2015. Earlier, Boating and other activities at Sukhna Lake had been suspended for 3 months due to bird flu scare in Chandigarh.
A short ceremony was organized at 4:00 pm where Vijay Kumar Dev (Advisor to Chandigarh Administrator), Kavita Singh, (Managing Director of CITCO), Anurag Aggarwal, (Home Secretary) and other Chandigarh Administration officials announced the opening of water activities in Sukhna Lake and took boat rides to mark the occasion.
Chandigarhians thronged Sukhna Lake and long queues were witnessed in front of the boating ticket counter in the evening. The news about opening of boating at Sukhna has brought cheers to Chandigarh residents and tourists visiting the Lake as they will be able to pursue their favourite activity in the city. The boating timings will remain same as before and no changes have been made in the boating rates.
Vijay Kumar Dev also said that more water activities have been planned for Sukhna Lake and they would be started by April end. The administration has already taken a decision of not rearing any birds like Geese or Ducks in the lake area as before. But a geese memorial will come up within the lake premises in the memory of the birds which were culled due to bird flu.
No. of Boats and Revenue Generated through Boating activity:
There are a total of 90 boats at Sukhna Lake out of which 5 are Shikaras. Boating at the Lake is directly handled by CITCO – Chandigarh Industrial & Tourism Development Corporation Ltd and all revenue generated goes to Chandigarh Administration which comes under the Central Government of India. On an average, a revenue of 10 to 12 lakh per month is generated by the Chandigarh Government from boating activity at Sukhna Lake.
Source: Times of Chandigarh and Chandigarh Tribune
Image Credits: Manoj Mahajan, Chandigarh Tribune.
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