By P.T. Bopanna Karnataka government and Kodagu (Coorg) district administration are to be blamed for the death of a tourist Vigneshwari Eshwaran (24) at an unregistered homestay at Madikeri. The failure to clamp down on illegal homestays, a cash cow for politicians and officials, claimed the life of Vigneshwari (in picture), a native of […]
By P.T. Bopanna Is the zeal towards environmental issues reduced after Charulata Somal became the Kodagu (Coorg) DC? After my recent report on how the authorities had bulldozed greenery at Raja Seat and put up huge concrete structures in the name of renovation of the tourist spot located at Madikeri, I received feedbacks to my […]
By P.T. Bopanna To promote mass tourism, Karnataka government has turned the scenic spot of Raja Seat in Kodagu (Coorg) into a concrete monster. This is nothing short of rape of the hills in one of the most picturesque spots in South India, located at Madikeri town, on the slopes of the Western Ghats. This […]
By Nimmi Chengapa* Lockdown has been a cleansing process for the homestay business in Kodagu (Coorg) in Karnataka. Mass tourism has been brought under control naturally. What the lockdown means to homestay owners? A true homestay, in its original essence, is a home where the owners who are also owners of the land, reside and […]
By P.T. Bopanna The Kodagu (Coorg) district administration in Karnataka has taken the right step in closing down tourist spots in the wake of a surge in Covid-19 cases. However, the government has allowed hotels, resorts and homestays to function by adopting standard operating procedures. The decision to close down the tourist spots has not […]
By P.T. Bopanna Instead of providing basic facilities at tourist spots, the Karnataka government wants to build a heliport in Kodagu (Coorg) district in Karnataka, which would apparently yield commissions and ‘kickbacks’ to ministers and officials. Karnataka tourism minister C.P. Yogeeshwar has announced that a heliport will be set up in Kodagu under the UDAN […]
The Karnataka tourism department has approved 207 homestays in Coorg. Altogether, 4600 applications have been submitted online for registration of homestays, of which only 207 homestays have been approved. The rest of the applications are being scrutinized. As per government norms, only those families which possess houses of their own should foray into the homestay […]
By P.T. Bopanna The Kodagu (Coorg) district administration in Karnataka is indulging in flip-flops on the issue of keeping tourists out of bounds in areas prone to landslides this monsoon, thereby compromising the safety of tourists visiting the hill station. In the wake of extensive landslides which devastated large parts of Kodagu last August, […]
By P.T. Bopanna In Coorg, the homestay capital of India, homestays located in landslide-prone areas will be out of bounds for tourists till August 31. In the wake of extensive landslides which devastated large parts of Kodagu (Coorg) last August, experts from Geological Survey of India (GSI) have identified 13 villages as vulnerable to natural […]
By P.T. Bopanna To prevent harassment to tourists, the Election Commission of India should immediately intervene and scrap an arbitrary order reportedly issued by K.A. Dayananda (in picture), the deputy commissioner of Shivamogga in Karnataka, directing hotels and homestays against entertaining bookings from tourists belonging to constituencies going to the polls on April 18 and […]
