Karnataka: Govt bans tourists’ entry to Bengaluru’s Nandi hills on weekends to avoid rush

Nandi hills is located in Chikkaballapur district which is about 60kms (an hour’s ride) from Bengaluru city (Photo: Wikimedia Commons/Rameshng)

The Karnataka government has decided to ban tourists entry to Nandi Hills during the weekends (Friday 6 pm to Monday 6 am) to avoid the rush after a huge crowd was witnessed at the hill station on Sunday (July, 11). More than 8,000 people were seen at Nandi Hills over the first weekend as the government lifted the COVID led lockdown completely, as per district administration records. Nandi hills is located in Chikkaballapur district which is about 60kms (an hour’s ride) from Bengaluru city. The Chikkaballapur district administration stated that even after deploying police officials, it was difficult to control the crowd and manage the traffic especially when thousands of tourists flocked to Nandi Hills to spend their weekend after the lockdown.

The additional deputy commissioner of the district, Amaresh H said that thousands of people visited the Nandi Hills on Sunday. The tourism department-run hotels were fully booked on weekends and in order to curb the covid spread in the district we decided to ban entry to Nandi hills during the weekends. There was a huge congestion on Rani cross in Devanahalli taluk. A distance of about 1 km on the way to Nandi Hills witnessed heavy surge in traffic on Sunday, Amaresh added.

Due to the second wave of coronavirus and subsequent lockdowns, the hills were closed from April. They were opened for visitors on June 21 but again had been closed for visitors on weekends. Bengaluru people love visiting Nandi Hills particularly on weekends as it offers splendid sunrise and sunset views.

On Tuesday, Karnataka reported 1,913 fresh cases and 48 deaths , taking the total number of infections to 28,74,597 and death toll to 35,944. The day witnessed some 2,489 discharges taking the total number of recoveries in the state to 28,04,396.

Bengaluru will also experience scheduled power cuts between 10 am and 5 pm till July 17, according to Bangalore Electricity Supply Company Limited (BESCOM). The power cut is scheduled in the following places: Vinayaka Nagar, Nanjappa Layout, Wilson Garden, Chandrappa Layout, Madiwala, Bande Park among others.