X’mas weekend sees heavy rush of tourists at forts, historic monuments

The weekend leading into Christmas on Monday, December 25, saw a heavy rush of tourists across the city and district; from Shaniwarwada and Sinhagad Fort to Tamhini Ghat and Mahabaleshwar among others. For the third consecutive day on Monday, the parking lot at Sinhagad Fort was packed to capacity as early as 7.30 am, leading to long queues of vehicles and tourists stuck in traffic jams on the ghat road.

Forest circle officer of the forest department, Samadhan Patil, said, “There were long queues of vehicles and tourists were stuck in traffic on the ghat road for almost two hours on Sunday. The tourists parked their vehicles on the narrow ghat road, causing traffic snarls. Even one-way traffic ground to a halt and the forest department officials were literally helpless with the heavy traffic and furious tourists.”

A record 30,000-plus tourists visited Sinhagad Fort in the three consecutive days from Saturday to Monday and all two-wheeler and four-wheeler parking lots were full due to the large number of vehicles that travelled to the fort. Meanwhile, more than 15,000 tourists visited Rajgad Fort in the three days from Saturday to Monday. Apart from these forts, the Panshet, Warasgaon and Khadakwasla dam areas, too, were teeming with tourists as both the young and old ventured out to celebrate the weekend holiday.

In Pune city as well, there was a heavy rush at major monuments and religious places. As tourists flocked to Shaniwarwada, Lal Mahal, Nana Wada, Mahatma Phule Wada etc., there was no space left to park vehicles in the central parts of the city. “Today, I came along with my family to see Shaniwarwada but as I did not get parking, I had to park the vehicle in a private space,” said Prakash Shinde, a tourist from Bhor taluka.

Kalyani Padole, senior police inspector, Vishrambagh police station, said, “Many tourists visit Shaniwarwada on holidays. In the absence of information boards, direction boards and parking-related staff, many tourists are seen lingering at the gates on Bajirao Road waiting for parking. On Sunday too, there was a traffic jam in this area as cars on Bajirao Road did not have any space to move forward.”