Pune: Tourist ban at Kaas Plateau to continue till October end

Pune: The Forest Department has opened up tiger reserves for tourists from October 1, but has decided to not open Kaas Pathar till October end considering the influx of tourists.

Kaas Plateau is situated in Satara district about 125 kilometres from Pune city. The Satara district is also affected by the rising number of Covid-19 cases. Considering these high number of cases and the possibility of rush of tourists at Kaas Pathar, the forest department has decided to not open the tourist spot in October month too.

With most of the tourist destinations opening up in the recent unlock phase, Punekars are looking forward to locations like Kas Pathar, Bamnoli and Tapola for their outing over the coming weekends. But they will have to wait for another month to head towards this tourist hotspot.

The forest department has taken this decision despite the local administration in Satara district allowing opening up of hotels, resorts and agro-tourism centres from October. The local administration has issued fresh guidelines for the latest unlocking phase.

The Kaas Pathar is usually visited by tourists from mid-August till September-end. This year, due to the Covid-19 outbreak in the state, a lockdown was imposed and inter-district travel was banned. As a result no tourists would visit the Kaas plateau this year in July, August and September month.

Satara district has recorded more than 7000 cases. Hence sign boards have been installed all along Kaas Plateau by the local administration to inform tourists about the closure of the plateau for visitors.