Vijayawada: Back-to-back floods at the Prakasam Barrage across the Krishna River have become a bane for the tourism department, which has once again been forced to close Bhavani Island and suspend boat operations, severely impacting tourism revenue.The department has already suffered a revenue loss of nearly Rs 1.8 crore, as boating services to Bhavani Island and room bookings at Berm Park were suspended for 60 consecutive days earlier this season.Now, the tourism department has once again been compelled to halt boating operations to Bhavani Island after the floodwater level at Prakasam Barrage exceeded the one lakh cusecs mark on Thursday.“It is not advisable to operate boats in the river when the floodwater level reaches the one lakh cusecs mark. We suspend boating operations at that stage because the boats cannot withstand the strong downstream flow,” a senior tourism department official told STOI.According to officials, the department earns around Rs 2 lakh in daily revenue through boating operations and ticket sales at Berm Park on average. With operations halted, this income stream is again disrupted.“During Karthika Masam, the island witnesses heavy footfall, and on weekends at least 4,000 to 5,000 visitors throng the island, generating about Rs 4 lakh in revenue. We don’t know how long the floods will continue, and once again we are unable to capitalise on the Karthika Masam demand, when people usually visit the island to enjoy Vana Bhojanalu,” the official added.Earlier, Bhavani Island had remained closed for 60 consecutive days in Sept, including during the Dasara season, resulting in significant losses for the department.
