KOCHI: Diamond, the eight-year-old horse which takes tourists on a ride around the Bolgatty Palace ground, is a familiar sight to Kochiites. But Diamond is looking a bit scrawny these days. Not surprising, since he has not been getting his usual quota of food of late. Ever since the November 2008 Mumbai attacks, the KTDC has closed down the Bolgatty Palace boat jetty to tourist boats as a security measure. Interestingly, the ban is applicable to the KTDC tourist boat too, which is reportedly under repair now. As a result, the ground which was thronged with tourists from the boats now wears a deserted look. Suresh K C, the owner of Diamond, suddenly finds himself out of business and has no other means of livelihood. He has been taking tourists on horse rides for the last 20 years. While he used to get 20 to 30 trips a day earlier, he gets hardly five now. “Diamond is a race horse and his food expenses alone are Rs 100-150 a day,” says Suresh. “I’m the only loser here, as the other stall in the ground is a snack bar which is owned by the KTDC.” There are a hundred other ways for a terrorist to enter the premises and closing the boat jetty is simply pointless, says Suresh.
But the KTDC officials have a different story to tell. The Mumbai attacks are not the only factor which prompted them to close down the jetty to tourist boats. “Every boat brings in crowds of hooligans,” says Bilal Muhammed, assistant manager, Bolgatty Palace Resort. Many of them are youngsters from Tamil Nadu and Karnataka who become a nuisance as they roam around the premises and even try to get into the Palace hotel, claims Bilal. If the resort was owned by a private firm, would anybody have come up with such questions? he asks. “Just because the KTDC owns the hotel doesn’t mean that we can’t protect our business interests,” he says. “We still keep the ground open solely in the interest of the public, not for profit, since it is like a heritage spot.” But with no maintenance work being done, let alone better facilities, the ground resembles an abandoned picnic spot now. All the items in the children’s play area are rusted and badly in need of repair. Meanwhile Diamond continues to get thinner by the day.
ashaprakash@epmltd.com