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BJP legislator and official apathy towards Raja Seat development takes district tourism to a new low

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Madikeri: The lackadaisical attitude of local BJP legislators and the officials in charge of tourism development in the district has hindered the development of Raja Seat, a prime tourist locale in the district. Their attitude has dampened the spirits of youth who hoped of eking a living in a district which provides very few job opportunities.

rajaseat inThe plan to develop Raja Seat has met with many road blocks ever since the proposal was envisioned around 15 years ago when Subodh Yadav, then Deputy Commissioner (DC) mooted the proposal. The moment he showed interest in making Raja Seat an attractive tourist location, he was transferred and subsequently the story repeated over the next few years. The only other DC keen on the Raja Seat development was Anurag Tiwary who again wanted to give some shape to the pending proposal. He even succeeded in getting Rs 2 crore funds sanctioned for the development of pristine locale. Unfortunately it again remained under wraps with money lying in the account unspent, with his transfer.

Too many hurdles

Despite money in coffers, efforts are not being made to invite tenders to kick start pending works. There was a proposal to increase the area under the tourist locale from the existing 5.72 cares to 9 acres. That time an advocate group “Vakilara Spandana” blocked the move by citing concretization leads to loss of beauty.

During the beginning of last year, court too gave its green signal for the development of the area with certain modifications in the development proposals. After getting the court clearance the DC had instructed the Director of Tourism to go ahead with the tender process, it is learnt. However, the horticultural department remained unmoved and did not provide necessary blue print to the tourism department.

Approval has been given to increase the area for the development of Raja Seat with certain riders like planting new saplings to beautify the area and to ensure existing trees are not felled during project implementation.

A separate walking path for tourists in the area, good seating arrangements, train shelter, providing drinking water, providing attractive lighting were included in the first phase of the project. Developing Nehru Mantap, construction of a welcome arch at the entrance and improvising features in kids train and addition of audio features in musical fountain were also included in the project proposals.

There were proposals to have live music shows in the evenings during weekends to support music and culture in collaboration with state ministry of Kannada and culture. Proposal to provide perfect ambiance for the artists by giving them amenities during evening shows to draw more tourists was also on the cards.
Suggestions to provide cash benefits to participating artists to encourage them were widely welcomed.

Unfortunately no proposals have seen the light of the day with changes taking place only in the administration set up. Proposal to construct a ‘Rope way’ and five-storey tower (view point) have been dropped due to environmental concerns and avoid concretization of the area, remained only steps in the right direction.

Some say politics, others lack of interest

The congress government allocated Rs 5 crores for Raja Seat development in its budget. However, to makes thing worse local MLAs were not keen and did not evince any interest in the development of Raja Seat and pushed the proposals under wraps despite some efforts from the government and officialdom.

Virajpet MLA K G Bopaiah, Local MLA Appachhu Rangan, BJP MLC Sunil Subramani and Congress MLC from neighboring village Veena Achaiah have not shown any interest in the development of Madikeri town, particularly Raja seat.

Raja seat development is moving in the lines of new city bus stand project at snail’s pace and sadly may take few more years to materialize.

BJP legislator and official apathy towards Raja Seat development takes district tourism to a new low
BJP legislator and official apathy towards Raja Seat development takes district tourism to a new low
BJP legislator and official apathy towards Raja Seat development takes district tourism to a new low

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