Vijayapura: The people of Vijayapura may not enjoy the boating facility for another couple of months at Begum Talab as the company that had got the contract has decided to terminate the deal.
The District Administration in collaboration with the Department of Tourism (DoT) had kick-started the boating facility at the historic lake, after reviving it under the Krishna Bhagya Jala Nigam Limited funds, on World Tourism Day in 2019.
In the beginning, for about three months, a Dandeli-based aqua sports company – Flycatcher Adventures had got the contract of providing boating service at Begum Talab. However, thereafter, Darshan Udyog Samuha, a water adventure sports company based in Kolhapur of Maharashtra had cut the deal with the authorities concerned for three years at Rs 8 lakh per annum.
The new company has operated only for about three months, that is from December 2019 to March 2020. It was forced to shut down the service because of the lockdown restrictions. After giving a nod to resume the tourism activities – the company had failed to resume the boating service because of the various issues. Now, it has decided to communicate with the district administration to terminate the contract.
Aashquin Ajrekar, proprietor of Darshan Udyog Samuha pointed that, “I have decided to cancel the agreement because of lack of availability of skilled staff and financial constraints due to Covid-19. When you don’t have skilled labourers, it is very difficult to run as there is a lot of risks involved in it. The people’s response was overwhelming.”
“I also provide boating service in Kalaburagi, Tumkur, Belagavi, and Dharwad districts. I am yet to communicate with the district administration but I have informed the officer concerned. I will write a letter regarding this to the Deputy Commissioner in the earliest possible,” said Aashquin.
According to an officer at the DoT, “While making the agreement, we had given the provisions that the company can withdraw the contract anytime. There will be no penalty or any action will be initiated against the contractors.”
Meanwhile, the hoteliers accused the district administration. On the condition of anonymity, a hotelier said that “Tourists hardly knew about the boating facility in Begum Talab. It used to run only because of the localities. It is neither the district administration nor the department of tourism that had barely put any efforts to publicize about the tourism and facilities available.”
Photo Courtesy: Firoz Rozindar
