Though it is one of the most serene tourist destination in north Kerala, Paithalmala the hill station in Kannur, is yet to attract a major inflow of tourists.
Reason: It is mainly due to the infrastructure constraints, especially electricity and water connection.
Even as the government and the department of tourism announced a slew of projects to develop the destination, but these projects are yet to start in the real sense thus hampering the potential of the hill station, which is also a biodiversity hotspot.
It was with the aim to develop the area that a group of entrepreneurs set up a consortium, Paithalmala Tourism Consortium, which also submitted many projects to the government.
"Though the government is highly enthusiastic about the projects, there are few takers for the project, mainly because of the infrastructure constraints and the development of the facilities is going on in a slow pace," said the consortium chairman E Kunhiraman.
The consortium had submitted a proposal of over Rs 400 crore for developing the place with some projects including a watch tower, artificial pond, mini-park around the watch tower and a hanging bridge apart from other infrastructure facilities.
The role of the consortium is that of a facilitator, and it aims to focus on sustainable tourism, eco-tourism, medical tourism and heritage tourism, without affecting the ecological equilibrium but it could take off only after the authorities take step to improve the infrastructure, he said.
Even the guest house built by the DTPC is not yet functional because of the electricity and water problem thus affecting the tourism in the place.
It was in January this year that tourism minister A P Anilkumar announced that the hill station will soon get the power connection as the KSEB will be given Rs 6 lakh additionally by the DTPC as the earlier amount of Rs 25 lakh given by the previous LDF was not sufficient.
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