This hill paradise, which pioneered the concept of homestay, is going to regulate them. Ten years after homestay became a part of Madikeri’s tourism circuit, the local civic body is looking at it as a source of income.
Starting from next financial year, the Madikeri City Municipal Council (MCMC) will charge an annual fee of `2,000 to each individual who runs such a facility.
“This is not a tax, but a fee payable by the owner of every homestay in return for the no objection certificate (NOC), which will be issued by the civic body. The new tourism policy has made provisions for issuance of NOC by the local civic body in addition to the ‘trade licence’ by the regional tourism office,” HM Nandakumar, president of MCMC said.
“There are not more than 50 legal homestays. But the number of illegal homestays is five times this number. If they are to survive, they should adopt regulations which will be good for them and to the city,” he said.
The owners stand to gain as their establishments will get a legal stamp by having the licence from regional tourism office and NOC from the City Municipal Council. The establishment will be automatically certified and no owner can run away from the law.
Opposition leader in the council TM Aiyappa was critical of homestay owners who hoodwink the city municipality.
“They cannot have a free run anymore. They have to fall in line and pay the city its due. They should consider themselves lucky that the council did not impose a tax but only a fee for the annual NOC,” he said.
Madikeri City Municipality commissioner Shashikumar said the civic body had passed a resolution recently to this effect.
“Civic leaders of Madikeri thought it fit to collect just a NOC fee. But later, homestays may come under a tax structure. That will be decided by the urban development department. In addition to the NOC and the fee, the council decided to impose hefty fines to those homestays that pollute the environment by indiscriminate dumping of garbage.
District in-charge minister J Krishna Palemar, who is also the state environment and ecology minister, hailed the move of the civic body. “Homestay is a commercial activity. During their formative years, homestays were welcomed with open arms. They grew without any regulation except for a licence from the tourism department.We have to consider that period as a gestation period or even as a tax holiday. The owners should not rue the fees and should consider it as their contribution towards the growth of Madikeri as a hill tourism centre of the state,” Palemar said.
However, those who run homestays are not amused.
“It is wrong to say that we’ve year-long business. There are certain seasons and each season does not last more than a few weeks.
Only techies from Bangalore, Mangalore and Mysore were patronising home stays in Madikeri, Nowadays, they go to Chikmagalur and Shimoga. which have also embraced this business. It is all right if the CMC charges us fees for grantingthe NOC, but if they are thinking of further taxing us, many of us will go out of business,” said office-bearers of Kodagu Home Stay Association.
Techies from Bangalore and Mysore going to Madikeri homestays during week-ends may have to dig deeper into their pockets as the homestays and estate stays have become 10% costlier.
A one-room facility will cost not less than Rs2,200 to Rs3,000 per 24 hours while a two-room, four-bed family facility will cost Rs4,000.
Urban development department official are thinking of bringing in a uniform rate of taxes and fees payable by home stays to civic bodies.
source: http://www.DnaIndia.com / Home> Bangalore> Report / by M Raghuram / Place: Madikeri / Agency: DNA / Monday, January 23rd, 2012
