Ahmedabad: Boating at the famed Nalsarovar Bird Sanctuary, suspended since June 2024 due to safety certification issues, is set to resume from the next birding season that begins in Oct.Officials from the forest department said the Gujarat tourism department, in coordination with the forest department, has finalised the design of new boats and initiated the procurement process. The move is expected to resolve the regulatory hurdles that forced the suspension of boating activities.The disruption stemmed from new certification requirements. The boats traditionally used at Nalsarovar were locally manufactured and lacked manufacturer certificates, a mandatory document for obtaining operational licences. As a result, the Gujarat Maritime Board (GMB) could not complete the certification process needed for registration and licensing.“The earlier boats were local boats, not factory-made ones, and hence none had manufacturer certificates,” said a senior forest official. To address the issue, the tourism department has procured 230 standardised boats, of which around 100 have already arrived.Principal chief conservator of forests (wildlife) Jaipal Singh said preference would be given to the nearly 250 boatmen who were registered and operating before the suspension. “The tourism department has procured the boats and these will be allotted to eligible boatmen. This should help restart boating operations,” he said.The prolonged halt has severely affected the local boating community. Boatmen say they have lost two full tourist seasons, which typically run from Oct to March and attract between 1,200 and 1,400 visitors daily. A local operator said a boatman generally earns around Rs 50,000 during a season by ferrying tourists and birdwatchers across the wetland.Forest officials acknowledged that the absence of boating impacted visitor numbers, with many tourists opting for Thol Lake instead. While visitors continued to visit Nalsarovar for picnics and birdwatching from the shore, the sanctuary’s signature boating experience remained unavailable throughout the 2024 and 2025 seasons.
