MANGALURU: With new bookings set to open within two days, forest officials have heightened surveillance on various trekking points, especially in Kudremukh wildlife division, to prevent unregulated operations and unauthorised trails.
Sivaram Babu M, the deputy conservator of forests at Kudremukh wildlife division of Karkala, told TNIE that forest officers will ensure the new Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) is followed by trekking organisers in all trails under his jurisdiction. He said officials are conducting surprise checks to detect violations.
“New bookings for all routes authorised by the forest department were temporarily suspended 15 days ago. Confirmed bookings made prior to the suspension will not be affected. We are now in the process of opening new bookings within two days,” he said.
There are eight trekking points in Kudremukh division, out of which Kudremukh, Gangadikal, Kurinjal and Nethravati, which are located on the border of Chikkamagaluru and Dakshina Kannada districts, have already complied with the new SOP and are open for treks.
SOP compliance is being checked in the other four trekking trails, including Kodachadri and Narasimha Parvatha. The new SOP mandates that the guides must have first-aid training; carry walkie-talkies, stretchers and signage boards and ensure that the base camps have water points and toilet facilities.
“We are conducting inspections to ward off violations and ensure visitors’ safety in view of recent untoward incidents. Forest officials and other staffers are periodically conducting surprise checks to detect illegal entry to the trekking points. Only through the base camp, they will be allowed to start the trek,” said Babu, adding that there will be curbs on bulk booking and the cancellation option, which was earlier being misused, have been removed.
Meanwhile, some of the trekking organisers have raised concerns about the new booking and cancellation options on the official Aranya Vihaara portal.
“The authorities have removed the cancellation option in the portal. If there is no trek, we should be given the option to cancel and book an original ticket. I have suffered a loss of Rs 20,000 as we could not cancel the tickets,” a trek organiser said. He said there should be curbs on organisers blocking the tickets and then selling them at higher rates. Compared to last year, there is an increase in registrations with each trek team having around 20 members, he said.