Sarthak Kanjilal
Port Blair, July 31: The Swiftlet Nest Guest House located at the picturesque hilltop at Karmatang, Mayabunder in North Andaman bears testimony to the lackadaisical attitude of administration in ensuring optimal utilisation of government funds.
Once considered one of the best owned by the Tourism Department, the guest house is now left in ruins. From trying to manage the guest house on its own to lease out the property to private parties, the Tourism Department failed on all counts and ultimately abandoned the guest house completely.
As a result, the guest house now remains in ruins and even furniture, electrical equipments from the building have been plundered from the premises.
According to reports, the PRI members of the region have been demanding to handover the building to the local Panchayat for proper utilisation. But the Tourism Department never paid heed to the pleas. This guest house was considered amongst the best guest houses owned by the Tourism Department.
Tourists as well as government officials wished to stay in this guest house as it is located close to the famous Karmatang beach. However, lack of interest and callousness on the part of Tourism officials to run this remotely located guest house has led to the tourist lodging losing its opulence and finally becoming a haunted place. It is alleged that some daily rated workers posted in the Guest House took home electrical appliances like ACs, Geysers, Fans and furniture items as they were not paid their wages during the final days of operation.
“Senior tourism officials claim tall in promoting tourism in these islands disregarding the fact that first they have to get the infrastructure at home right. The Karmatang Guest House is a perfect example in this regard. The building constructed for lakhs of rupees have been left in ruins,” said some PRI members of the area.
The Karmatang Panchayat and PRI members of the area demanded that the building be handed over so that the asset could be utilized for some other purpose. But the Department never paid heed neither bothered to post at least two workers on daily rated basis as Watch and Ward and for the upkeep of the Guest House. Had the building been handed over to the Panchayat, it could have been used for several purposes. The closure of the guest house has led to the entire Karmatang area a non-active zone depriving several unemployed youth of employment opportunities,” say some others.
Talking to Andaman Sheekha Mrs. Madhuri Giri, former Adhyaksha of Zilla Parishad and sitting Zilla Parishad Member said that this is total negligence of Tourism Department. “For Tourism Department, Tourism is only for Port Blair. My request is that the Tourism Department must look beyond Port Blair and focus on interior islands so that benefit of tourism reaches here,” she added.
Saw Thompson, the Pradhan of Ram Pur Panchayat said that this matter has been raised by him in several occasions to the senior officials but no one has paid any heed till today. “If Administration can’t take care of such a building, it should be handed over to Panchayat. It will be an asset for the Panchayat,” he added.
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