Police delay issuing NoC to homestay owners

Young entrepreneurs seeking NoC from the police to start a homestay, on the outskirts of the city, have been waiting for months to get their clearance, and are loosing patience due to the delay.

“An entrepreneur, son of a famous Yakshagana artist, contacted elected representatives who were fans of his father and got the NoC cleared for the homestay within days. However many applicants are not as lucky as the entrepreneur who had a famous father,” sources in department of Tourism told DH.

To boost tourism and creating employment, the government simplified the rules and empowered district DC to sanction permission for homestays. Following the simplification of procedures, there was an overwhelming response from entrepreneurs.

So far, 16 applications have been cleared and 25 applications seeking NoC are pending with commissioner of police and Mangaluru City Corporation, sources in department of Tourism informed DH.

“Responding to complaints from entrepreneurs about the pending applications, both department of Tourism Assistant Director Uday Shetty and DC had written letters to commissioner of police to expedite the process of issuing NoCs,” sources on conditions of anonymity told DH.

Mangaluru Commissioner of Police T R Suresh said that there are as many as 13 different criteria to be fulfilled, for applicants seeking NoC to run a homestay. Most of the answers to questions like whether there was a clear passage to the home stay were not backed with pictures or sketches. “The applications that lacked in submitting complete details are kept pending,” the commissioner said.

“If we are not eligible to run homestay let the police reject our application. But the delay in issuing NoC is unacceptable,” an applicant declared angrily.

Suresh responding to a query, said there would have been no problems if the tourism department had ensured that the applications had all the details. “The tourism department should have done spot inspection of the homestays,” he stressed.
Department of Tourism Assistant Director Uday Shetty clarified that a homestay owner seeking NoC must submit the application online. After the police and local civic bodies have given an NoC, the department carries out a spot inspection and ensures that homestay adheres to all the criteria on our checklist, he added.

The DC on the department’s recommendation issues a letter and based on this letter the certificate is generated and issued to the homestay owner, Shetty said.