Is the Kodagu district administration turning a blind eye to the criminal activities, including flesh trade that is going on in unauthorised Coorg homestays?
Though senior Kodagu politician M.C. Nanaiah (in picture) had brought the “immoral activities” that was going on in unauthorised homestays two years ago to the deputy commissioner Anurag Tewari, the latter seems to have not taken the issue seriously.
Even though the district administration claims that they were not in a position to clamp down on unauthorised homestays due to lack of clarity in the rules governing the homestays, there is no reason why no action is taken when criminal activities were taking place in these homestays.
No less than the Kodagu superintendent of police Varthika Katiyar has gone on record to state that illegal activities were going on in some of the homestays.
She recently admitted before a legislature committee that fake policemen robbed two businessmen from Kerala after capturing nude photographs of the two businessmen, with the ladies at the homestay.
There are an estimated 2,500 homestays in Coorg, out which only around 300 homestays are registered with the government. There are hundreds of applications pending for registration. Apart from these, there are those who are operating without any no-objection-certificate from the concerned authorities. These have to be closed down as some of them are reported to be involved in immoral activities.
According to homestay industry sources, organised gangs were operating inter-state prostitution racket in these unauthorised homestays. Worse, some of these have even converted cattle-sheds to accommodate the ‘guests’.
Even betting is also taking place in some of these homestays, which came to light recently following a major incident at an established homestays which had not installed CCTV as this would have exposed their betting racket.
The district administration is duty bound to insist on home stay owners to compulsorily maintain registers and record the address, telephone numbers, vehicle registration numbers, PAN card and driving licence details of their guests and produce them whenever concerned officials visited to check them.
Home stay owners should compulsorily live on the premises and the number of rooms in the home stay should not exceed five. The activities would be considered as commercial.
The Vakila Spandana Vedike in Madikeri has been urging the Kodagu district administration to crack down on the unauthorised homestays which were mushrooming in the district.
The convenor of the Vedike, M.S. Biddappa, accused officials of not taking steps to stop the illegal homestay activities in the district. The homestay business has disrupted peace in the neighbourhood and resulted in pollution, Mr. Biddappa said.
The rule which stipulates that the owners themselves should run the homestays too had been flouted. Mr. Biddappa wondered how could the Madikeri City Municipal Council (CMC) and the police department issue no objection certificates (NOC) to such illegal homestays in the district.
Though the Kodagu DC and SP have a clean image, their reputations could be sullied if they allow the district to become “another Goa in Karnataka”.
Hi Sir,
I agree home-stays is a source of income for small planters, who are facing difficulty in finding labors to maintain that because of high wages and short of manual labors.
But when you have easy money, then lot of issues comes with it. Every month i visit coorg i find new people in my village labors, tourists i feel like i myself a tourist in coorg.
Native people of coorg Please kindly let us all unite and do something.
Thanks
Do you have any suggestions Mr. Kuttappa? You can reach me at sundermuthanna@yahoo.com
Illegal flesh trade in Kodagu cannot operate without the involvement of local law enforcement. Just like the cops collect money every month from the registered home stays, they must be taking bigger amounts from the flesh trade. People don’t protest easily in Coorg, so no problem for anyone. Those involved get transferred in a few years, and they leave behind a degraded environment which is not safe for our women and families.
I doubt if an illegal inter-state flesh trade can run without the knowledge of local law enforcement. There might be money exchanging hands to be left in peace. It is common knowledge that even registered home stays pay up every month, out of fear of police harassment of their guests. The police suddenly show up in their jeeps inside estates, something they did not dare to do all these years. There must be a law that prevents this (unless a crime has been reported) but it is not being used. The home stay owners association should speak to lawyers and put a stop to this. As usual the people of Coorg are not aware of their rights. These constables and officers in Kodagu will get transferred in a few years, but they will leave behind a degraded environment which is no longer safe for our women. Crime will naturally go up in such areas. What a pathetic state of affairs. What is Vartika Katiyar, Kodagu District SP doing about it? And can Anurag Tewari the Kodagu DC, please take this issue seriously? And that of the police infringing upon our civil rights?
Hi,
Its sad very few people stand up to the cause. No political party or leader worry about this. Two MLAs of Coorg along with kodava samajas should try to unite people and take on this menace.
Thanks