Crackdown Begins, 6 Illegal Tourist Cottages In Ooty Sealed
In recent decades, people have taken permission to build residential houses and then convert them into tourist cottages
Ooty: The Ooty municipal administration has started a crackdown on illegal tourist cottages/homestays which are being run in the municipal limits, violating the hill station building rules(HSBR). In the first phase, the officials sealed six illegal tourist cottages.
The action follows numerous complaints from social organisations and green activists that many in the town run the tourist cottages/homestays, even in prime residential areas, bypassing the HSBR that has clear and distinctive norms. Proper permission from the district-level committee monitoring the commercial building construction licence and then from Hill Area Conservation Authority in Chennai is needed for commercial constructions in the hills. But in recent decades, people have taken permission to build residential houses and then convert them into tourist cottages.
While the Madras high court has issued directions to take action on the illegal tourist cottages which had sprouted violating the HSBR, so far the crackdown activity was at snail's pace. Now, with more complaints pouring in, the municipal administration officials began to inspect the different wards in the town to identify the dwelling houses being converted into tourist cottages and other such illegal tourist cottages. Initially, the officials sealed around six such illegal tourist cottages. Green activists here demanded that the municipal administration should identify all the unauthorised tourist cottages, homestays and guest houses and take action to close them down immediately.
