BHUBANESWAR: Even as the state government has set in motion a new ecotourism policy, certain provisions in its draft allowing outsourced agencies to manage and redevelop the existing eco-tour property has come as a surprise.
As proposed in the draft policy, operation and management of facilities of the Forest department outside the protected areas with low visitors’ footfall can be outsourced to local entrepreneurs on long-term basis for about 20 to 30 years.
The outsourced operator will design, redevelop, upgrade, augment, finance, manage, market, operate, maintain, and repair/refurbish the property and assets at its own cost, expenses in accordance with standards and specifications, applicable laws and terms of applicable permits, the draft says.
Although they will be allowed to make the sites feasible for changes to the existing infrastructure with prior approval of the design by the committee to be constituted by principal chief wildlife warden (wildlife), conservationists pointed out that leasing out forest land or existing property to outsourced agencies with a permission to bring structural changes violate the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) guidelines on eco-tourism in the forest areas.
“The Supreme Court has put restrictions on commercial use of forest land without approval from the Forest Advisory Committee (FAC) under MoEFCC. Any lease, license, or outsourcing of forest land to private parties must get prior clearance from the FAC. Leasing forest land to entrepreneurs without such clearance is illegal, even if it is for eco-tourism,” they said.
Sources said the state government has prepared a list of 29 clusters, including Mandasaru valley, Daringibadi, Tensa, Khandadhar, Sunapur beach resort, Chitrakonda, Sidhamula, Bichitrapur, Chandipur, Satiguda, Nrusinghanath, Ansupa, Saptasaja, Olasuni, Mahavinayak and Mangalajodi for management by outsourcing agencies.
Eco-tourism seeks to showcase the state’s unique natural and associated cultural heritage to visitors with emphasis on enhancing livelihood options for the local community. The eco-tour property must be managed by eco-development committees (EDCs), vana surakshya samitis, eco-tourism groups and SHGs to boost local economy, instead of corporate agencies or hotel industry, they said.
The draft policy, however, proposed that the existing ecotourism facilities within protected areas be managed by the Forest department involving local communities, and destinations outsourced on cluster basis be marketed with Ecotour Odisha logo.