Lucknow, Jun 18 (IANS): The serene Chuka beach in Uttar Prdesh's Pilibhit has emerged as a much sought after tourist spot, witnessing a 40 per cent increase in the footfalls.

According to a government spokesperson, nearly 24,000 tourists have explored the beauty of Chuka beach after the pandemic.

The footfall translated into a revenue of Rs 51.04 lakh for the state tourism department which has been promoting the destination in a big way over the past couple of years.

"Senior officials, politicians, actors and judges of the Supreme/High Court paid a visit to the Pilibhit forest in the November to June season. In addition to this, as many as 42 students' groups explored the place. Of the tourists who visited the place, more than 4,300 took the jungle safaris while the travellers booked the Tharu huts online 839 times," the spokesperson said.

There are seven forest rest houses available in different ranges under the Pilibhit Tiger Reserve. As many as four Tharu huts and one tree house are also available for tourists.

They claimed that Chuka beach came into being during the evolution of Sharda Dam project.

It is perhaps unique because it is the only beach in India that is not located along a sea.

Sources claimed that the place lay in neglect for years and the Yogi Adityanath government initiated concrete steps to develop it into a tourist destination.

"Chuka Beach gained popularity as a tourist destination because of publicity campaigns launched by the Yogi government," the spokesman said.