Courtallam’s auction-based biz model

One of the biggest tourist attractions in Courtallam, a quaint little Panchayat town, which is referred to as the Spa of South India, is the Main Falls (Peraruvi), located in the vicinity of the Thirukutraalanaadhar Koil. Thousands of pilgrims, heading to Sabarimala are known to halt here and bathe in the waterfalls, before continuing with their journey. The tourist season (between Nov 15 and Jan 14) finds lakhs of bhaktas criss-crossing paths with leisure travellers. 

With a view of making the most of this season, several enterprising, but unorganised vendors, set up makeshift stalls, on the walkways leading up to the waterfalls, as well as on the aisles in the periphery of the falls. These vendors offer pilgrims puja essentials such as kumkum, bhasmam and sandalwood paste. Their main stock- in- trade is a large-sized vanity mirror that is used primarily by the male pilgrims for applying aforementioned items, after taking bath in the waterfalls. Around 12 vendors had set up shop in the immediate vicinity of the falls, containing these items, which can be availed of by a tourist, for a fee of Rs 2 ! That was until a month ago.

In late November, the Courtallam Township, with an aim to bring back some revenue to the state government, conducted an auction, inviting bidders to take up shop spaces available on the walkway leading up to the waterfall. Sources said that while the bid for one shop was Rs 3.5 lakh, the other went for Rs 1.5 lakh. According to vendors in this area, both the shop spaces (estimated to be about 200 sq ft) have been taken up by well-heeled private parties, sending the entire community of unorganised vendors here into a tizzy. 

Krishnaveni (name changed), one of the many unorganised vendors who has been setting up her kumkum stall in these parts for several years now, says, “On a good day, between these two months (Nov-Jan), each of us were able to earn up to Rs 300. By auctioning these shop spaces near the waterfalls, the Panchayat is depriving several people of their livelihoods during this season. If only two shops are set up here, the stall owners can easily do business for Rs 25,000 per day. As we do not have the money or the muscle power to bid for such auctions, we are left without a place to set up our stalls. It’s a very biased and an unfair move on part of the Panchayat.” 

The Children’s Park located close to the Main falls is yet another government property that has been handed over to private parties based on the auction model. One of the caretakers says, “Our business months are only between June to August. As tourists are few and far between in other months, there’s virtually no income during these months. The entry tickets to this park is priced at Rs 5 per person. The auction, inviting parties to take control of this park is conducted annually. We paid close to Rs 5 lakh in order to bag the tender for this park. Assuming 2,000 people visit the park a day, we can earn up to Rs 10,000 a day during peak season. When the Panchayat started the auction, it would begin with Rs 10,000 or so on the opening bid. However, the local players keep raising the stakes, bringing it close to Rs 5 lakh per year now.” 

According to K Lingaraj, who is the Executive Officer (in-charge) Courtallam Town Panchayat, “The Town Planning department takes care of the areas in the vicinity of the waterfalls — from the walkways to the car park. We recently auctioned two specific shop spaces —one kumkum stall near the falls and two idli shops (10 by 10 feet each). We were unable to auction off the second shop space for the kumkum stall this year as there has been no rains for the past 10-15 days. He adds, “The shop space for the kumkum stall was auctioned off for Rs 3,60, 505. This is the first time that someone has bid so highly for such a space. We are planning a repeat auction for the remaining shop space for the kumkum stalls post the approval of the AD.” The tourist season in Courtallam is from June to September and also from November to January.”

In January next year, the Town Panchayat will be conducting an auction for shop spaces (food and miscellaneous) for 10 stalls at the Main Falls and 20 stalls at the Five Falls. The administrators expect this year’s auctions to fetch at least Rs 1 crore in revenue, which they will use towards administrative expenses like salaries, utility bills and maintenance. The Town Panchayat has a population of about 2,089 people, and depending on population, the Panchayat gets funding from the government. Every three months, the Town Panchayat is allocated an amount of Rs 5-6 lakh to cover administrative costs such as electricity, water, street lights and other bills. Lingaraj says that for other town panchayats where populations hover between 15,000 to 20,000 people, the fund amount grows substantially, in the range of Rs 15 to Rs 20 lakh every 3 months. 

Lingaraj says that the Town Panchayat has now approached the state government with a petition for additional funding, keeping in mind the heavy inflow of floating population during the two busiest seasons.