The Madras High Court on Thursday wanted to know whether the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), which reportedly charges ₹600 from every foreign tourist and ₹40 from domestic tourists visiting the Mamallapuram monuments, would be able to spare a part of its revenue with the local Town Panchayat to improve the civic amenities.
Justices Vineet Kothari and R. Suresh Kumar issued the direction after Advocate General (A-G) Vijay Narayan submitted the Chengalpattu Collector’s report stating that the town panchayat could not burden visitors by levying parallel tax and therefore sharing of a portion of the collection by ASI could help in improving the facilities substantially.
The judges directed Assistant Solicitor General G. Karthikeyan to get instructions from the ASI by January 22. In the meantime, the Collector was ordered to find out the availability of non-governmental organisations and other volunteers who could assist the district administration and the local body in keeping the locality neat and clean.
The directions were issued on a suo motu public interest litigation petition taken up by the court on the basis of a letter written by Justice N. Kirubakaran last year to Justice Kothari when the latter was functioning as the Acting Chief Justice of the High Court until the incumbent Chief Justice Amreshwar Pratap Sahi assumed office.
In his report, the Collector stated that Chengalpattu district was created after bifurcating Kancheepuram district with effect from November 29. The Mamallapuram Town Panchayat fell under Chengalpattu district. Thought it had ancient monuments and heritage sites only in two wards, the ASI declared four wards as heritage sites considering their proximity.
Any construction activity in those four wards were subject to scrutiny of the competent authorities. Despite mass encroachment drives conducted periodically to evict hawkers on roads and the pathway to the beach in Mamallapuram, they keep “resurfacing again and again as they have a strong patronage of tourists/visitors,” the Collector said.
Hence, discussions were on with the management of Sthalasayana Perumal Temple on accommodating about 40 vendors near the temple in order to keep the locality tidy and clean. Sensitisation programmes were also being conducted apart from engaging sufficient number of sanitary workers to clean the litter left behind by tourists, he said.
The panchayat had passed a resolution on April 6, 2017 to impose a fine of ₹1,000 on eateries, push carts, vegetable vendors and hawkers who litter public places, he added. In its report, the Municipal Administration department told the court that underground sewage system was created in Mamallapuram in 2016.
The court was told that on an average 2,000 tourists visit Mamallapuram on working days and that the number goes up to 10,000 on weekends. During festival season, as many as 50,000 people throng the ancient monument site. “However, there is no adequate space to park their vehicles,” S. Ramanathan, Deputy Secretary to Government, said.
On its part, the Police Department informed the court of having established a special team of policemen well-versed in English to interact with the foreign tourists and assist them in hours of need.
