THE GOAN NETWORK
SANGUEM
A 100% increase in the entry fee to the Botanical Garden at Selaulim Dam has taken visitors by surprise.
When the Botanical Garden was inaugurated at the Selaulim Dam, the Goa Forest Development Corporation (GFDC), which maintains the garden, had initially affixed an entry fee at Rs 20 per person while children below five years were charged Rs 10.
Some two years ago, the entry fee was hiked to Rs 30 per person.
However of late, the entry fee has been increased once again and that too by 100 per cent. While an adult is now required to pay Rs 60, children need to pay Rs 20 to gain entry to the Selaulim Dam.
The sudden increase in entry fees has, however, surprised many visitors, including locals, who are unaware of the increase in entry fee to the Selaulim Dam and Botanical Garden.
Visitors and locals claimed that while the GFDC has increased the entry fee, there has been no increase in services or facilities at the Botanical Garden.
“The landscaping at the Botanical Garden has remained the same since its inception a decade ago, except for a couple of new additions made to the Children’s Park,” remarked a local who visited the Botanical Garden.
According to sources, while the GFDC has been boasting of construction of musical water fountains at the Botanical Garden since many years back, the idea has till date only remained on paper.
Mahadev Temple Draws Visitors
Meanwhile, the number of people visiting the relocated temple devoted to Lord Mahadev at the Selaulim Dam site has been on the rise.
Though the temple was translocated stone by stone from its original location in Kurdi between 1985 and 1994, very few visitors would visit the Temple as its existence was hardly known to those visiting the Selaulim Botanical Garden which is on the lower portion of the Selaulim Dam.
Visitors to the temple have, however, requested authorities to install requisite signboards at the Botanical Garden about the existence of the Lord Mahadev Temple on the other side of the Botanical Garden giving its brief history.
They have also suggested that authorities to provide more information of the temple at the site so that visitors need not spend time seeking details of the relocated temple from other visitors.
The relocated temple of Lord Mahadev is situated besides the WRD Rest House, which is a few metres away from the entry gate to the Dam from the Dando side.
