The increase in FAR for hotels in rural areas will change the demographics of villages. Strange: the government seems to be a govt for tourists and tourism stakeholders only. Villagers cannot get higher FAR for themselves. This is the main problem with tourism. The villagers will forcibly be ‘kept back’ so that tourists can enjoy ‘undeveloped village life’ which they do not see in their developed homelands. Lack of development will force the villagers to become dependent on the tourist trade: as guides, photographers, taxi/rickshaw drivers etc. further trapping them in a ‘fixed’ cage.
The coastal belt has been ravaged by these same tourism stakeholders to the extent that tourists themselves are complaining and wish for alternate, uncrowded and unravaged ‘village’ life. And the government having failed miserably on the tourism front at these coastal belts is ‘gifting’ the hinterland spaces as ‘reward’ to the very same unorganised tourism stakeholders who have no understanding of sustainable tourism. The similarity to the favouring of the 88 mining lease holders cannot be missed. Before venturing into hinterland tourism, the govt must first grade the tourism stakeholders and list out all shortcomings and failures in the coastal belt tourism.
