State asked to submit list of NGOs, guides working in Mahabalipuram

A division bench comprising Justice Vineet Kothari and Justice R Sureshkumar before whom the suo motu taken plea for the upkeep of Mahabalipuram came up for hearing on Thursday offered the direction after hearing Advocate General (AG), Vijay Narayan, Sunitha Kumari, counsel, Union of India and the Assistant Solicitor General G Karthikeyan appearing for the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).

The bench while seeking details about the NGOs and guides also recorded the AG’s submission about the paucity of funds with Town Panchayat to undertake various municipal work. The AG submitted that the ASI is collecting major revenue from the tourists at the rate of Rs 40/- per Indian and Rs 600/- per foreigner. Therefore, if they can do some funding to the Town Panchayat, they would be in a better position for undertaking such maintenance works in the said tourist places of Mahabalipuram, the AG said.

The Assistant Solicitor General G Karthikeyan appearing for ASI, sought for some time to give the statistics with regard to the revenue received from the tourists in the last three years and the funding the ASI may be willing to provide for maintenance and upkeep of Mahabalipuram and other areas around it.

Based on this, the bench led by Justice Vineet Kothari posted the case to January 22 for submission of the list of NGOs and guides so that an integrated approach can be made by directing the authorities concerned.

The bench also recorded submissions made by the Municipal Administration and Water Supply Department about the development work undertaken in Mahabalipuram including removal of as many as 290 shops which had permanently encroached public places.

However, noting that such encroachments are resurfacing again and again as it has the strong patronage of visitors, the report detailed about the three reverse Osmosis plants set up to cater to the drinking water needs of visitors with 1000 litres capacity at Ward Nos 9, 12 and 13. The commissioning of underground drainage system, public and community toilets (13 Nos) with 86 seating capacity has been meeting the hygienic needs, the report said.

The Kancheepuram District Collector in response to the direction that no construction should be made which would affect the view of monuments, said in the status report filed that the town panchayat has been directed to conduct an enumeration on violation if any to safeguard the ancient monuments.

He also noted that the town panchayat has already resolved to impose a fine of Rs 1,000 for those found littering the place and that the service of an NGO ‘Hand in Hand’ has been roped in to manage the sanitation issue and an average of 65 men are engaged by the NGO per day in addition to the regular sanitation staff of the town panchayat.

Further on citing that an average of 2,000 tourists visited Mahabalipuram on normal days, during weekends its around 10,000 while during special and festival holidays the number of visitors increase to 50,000, said there is no adequate space to park these vehicles when they all throng at a time.

The town panchayat has been taking steps to identify suitable land for earmarking exclusive vehicle parking, with a hope to bring these issues to an end, the Collector’s report said.

The status report filed on behalf of the Director General of Police (DGP), submitted that a separate wing comprising of one sub-inspector of police and four other ranks that are well versed in English is functioning in Mahabalipuram police station to deal with complaints from foreigners.