TK Falls marred by black spots and haphazard parking

Vasudha Zora | NT

Bengaluru:

Thottikallu Falls, popularly known as TK Falls, is a popular getaway located 45 km away from the city off Kanakapura Road, but the poor management of garbage, both at micro and macro levels, provides an unsavoury experience to visitors.

The waterfall has of late gained vigour due to the recent copious rainfall, but the beauty of the place is marred by the stench emanating from garbage black spots and haphazard parking of vehicles.

The road to the water falls is dotted with small shacks and with hardly any garbage bins near the area, the food leftovers are dumped by visitors and shopkeepers near the water body. When Ashwini, who runs a corn and churmuri stall, was asked why there is so much litter, she said, “I do collect the trash, in fact everyone tries to, and later we discard it. I do what I can, but we have to earn our living too.” She elaborated that they burn the litter in the evening. On being asked about the hazards posed by smoke and ash, she shied away from answering and pretended to be busy.

A fruit salad and chat owner told NT, “The authorities have neglected us by evening time before closing our stalls and shops ,we collect all the trash and the place is comparatively cleaner.” He blamed the visitors for littering the place. While the authorities have not placed any bins in the area, the shack owners too have not installed any.

The visitors’ inflow peaks during the weekend and holidays, and many of them don’t bother to avoid littering. The black spots also attract mosquitos.

Parking-  The drive towards TK Falls is beautiful and refreshing, but the narrow serpentine road near the water body is just enough for a fourwheeler to pass by.  There is no organised parking and villagers just demarcate any level piece of land for parking and extract a huge sum as parking fee from the hapless visitors. The number of vehicles almost triple during the weekends and holidays than on normal days. Apart from picnickers, the place also attracts nature photographers, environmentalists and botanists.

Infrastructure- There is no sign of any public toilet in and around the vicinity and many visitors can be seen relieving themselves in the open. The water deposits towards the lower end are brimming with plastic, glass, cloth materials, corrosive metals and human remains.

Not a tourist spot: Forest officials

The forest officials have a different take. They told News Trail that TK Falls is a deemed forest and not a tourist spot. But due to proximity to Bengaluru, many treat it as a getaway.

Though numerous notices have been put up in the area, requesting visitors to maintain the tranquil environment, but no one cares and even the boards have been vandalised. The vendors inside the area have been strictly instructed to carry their garbage in the evenings, yet they do not do so. The forest officials in teams clean the area from time to time.

According to Govindaraju, RFO, Kaggalipura, TK Falls come under the deemed forest list survey number 35, 36, 37, Gurukamalya. On being asked if the visitors are allowed to visit the forest, he said visitors cannot be stopped as the Revenue Department has not yet given over the forest to the forest department and the dispute is still ongoing. He said until TK Falls forest area is notified as a restricted forest only then can action be taken to preserve the area.