Tourism Department devises action plan to revive boating in Thirumoorthy Dam

Tourism Department has proposed to revive boating in Thirumoorthy Dam after a span of over 15 years.

A joint inspection was carried out by officials of Tourism and Water Resources departments and the Dhali town panchayat, which has the administrative control of the boat house.

The district administration had, last year, decided to resume boating that remained suspended for safety reasons, under a 50% profit sharing between Dhali town panchayat and the tribal people.

Since the town panchayat apparently had difficulty in operating the boat house, the Tourism Department had recently proposed to revive the boating.

District Tourism Officer Aravind Kumar and Tamil Nadu Tourism Corporation Regional Manager Yuvaraj held discussions with executive engineer of Water Resources Department Prabakaran and Dhali town panchayat executive officer Jeeva on securing the required approvals, and the modalities of sharing revenue from boating.

The officials together mooted ₹80 lakh proposal for the project for which the administrative sanction was granted by the State Government last year.

The Coimbatore district administration also sanctioned ₹5 lakh in the first phase for purchase of boats.

According to the officials, there is substantial scope for revenue generation from boating.

Pilgrims visit the Amanalingeswarar Temple (also known as Thirumoorthy Temple) close to the dam and to the Panchalinga water falls which is about one km away from the temple, in large numbers every weekend.

The Tourism Department has proposed to spruce up the boat house currently administered by town panchayat by establishing jetties for the boats.

The department, by way of reviving boating, will also generate job opportunities for the tribal community, Mr. Kumar said.