Facing financial crunch, the agency is mulling to terminate contract
BIJAPUR: The people of Bijapur 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 shutdown the
service because of the lockdown restrictions. After giving 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 the skilled labourers, it is very difficult to run
as there is a lot of risk 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,” detailed 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 or advertise about the tourism and facilities available
