More than 300 workers of the Pondicherry Tourism Development Corporation (PTDC) are a worried lot after the management decided to provide permits to private players to operate boats from the vicinity of the profit- making Chunnambar boathouse.
Established in 1991 with just five boats, the boathouse has grown tremendously making it the key revenue earner for PTDC. At present, the boathouse operates seven speedboats, seven 20-seater motorised boats, one 25-seater, two 40-seater and one 80-seater sea cruiser.
On any given day, it ferries 300 to 500 tourists to the pristine Paradise Beach and the footfall increases to 3,000 to 5,000 on weekends. It's daily collection comes to around ₹1.5 lakh and during weekends the revenue touches around ₹6 lakh to ₹7 lakh.
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The annual revenue of around ₹12 crore generated from the boathouse is the main source for the PTDC to provide salary to its 300-odd workforce deployed in various restaurants and other ventures.
In a complete turnaround of policy decision, the PTDC management a year ago decided to issue temporary licence to individuals and private firms to operate boats from Chunnambar area to adjacent tourist spots near the Paradise Beach. The decision triggered immediate protest from a section of boathouse employees.
According to an employee, the move was to issue licence to the same private operators to ferry tourists to Paradise Beach.
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Govt. monopoly
“At a time when we are demanding more facilities at the boathouse, the government is trying to destroy it by issuing licence to private parties. Boating services in tourist spots in most States are the monopoly of government,” said another PTDC staff.
The employees were not just worried about issuance of licence to private players for boating. What adds to their anxiety is that there is a move to involve private players in catering service inside the boathouse and at Paradise Beach.
“When PTDC-owned Sea Gulls has got the wherewithal to expand its operations, individuals are given permit to run ice cream parlours and other eateries at Chunnambar,” said a PTDC catering staff. Another staff cited the PTDC management decision to handover operations of the 80-seater sea cruiser to a private party.
“No fresh recruitments are made to operate boats and you cite shortage of staff as the reason to involve outsiders to operate boats,” said another staff. The staff said a guest house built inside the boathouse remained idle for the last several months. “We are getting enquiries from tourists on why the guest house is not utilised. Hundreds of tourists have shown interest to stay in the guest house. It will be a huge source of revenue,” he said.
Citing examples of defunct public sector units and financially strained corporations such as PASIC, he said the continued neglect would lead to revenue loss and in the long run create financial constraints.
Any dip in revenue from the Chunnambar boathouse would put PTDC under tremendous pressure. “Around 300 workers get salary from the revenue earned from the boathouse. Now, on weekends many tourists have started going to the private boathouses. Once. through word of mouth, the tourists learn about other boathouses, they will obviously will turn away from Chunnambar.
“The private players are resourceful and will be more than willing to provide additional recreational facilities to tourists,” he said.
Honarary president of Confederation of Puducherry Government Employees’ Association C.H. Balamohan said there was a systematic move to destroy the public sector tourism utility. The government was reluctant to buy new boats and provide additional facility at the boathouse with the aim to strengthen the private operators.
A senior government official told The Hindu that the apprehensions of employees were unfounded. Several tourism-related projects for Chunnambar are in the pipeline, he said. Growth of tourism in Puducherry was such that private players and public utilities can grow along side.