Madikeri: Deputy Commissioner Anees Kanmani Joy chaired a meeting on river rafting and its management on Wednesday, October 30.
In the meeting she directed the concerned officials saying, “By the next year, permission will be granted for 60 rafts and the applications for permission received this year will be accepted based on the decisions taken by the technical committee.
“River rafters who are already given permits should be inspected personally by the officials of the Public Works Department, fire fighters, tourism department and the rafting committee members,” she said.
On the issues raised against issuing fitness certificates to rafters who are currently operational, she said, “From next year onwards, the applications submitted by the rafters will be inspected within a day and will be issued fitness certificates.”
Based on the information received by DC Anees through the rafting committee members regarding the Barapole river rafting, she said, “Excluding the fees collected by the committee for rafting, extra fees shall not be charged. If somebody asks for more fees, then stringent action will be taken. In order to inform the tourists about the fee for rafting, a fee structure board must be put on display at the rafting site.”
Superintendent of Police Suman D P said, “Instruction boards, like the ones displayed in Barapole, must be installed in Dubare as well.”
Officials of different departments were present at the meeting.
