Tourists in Puri hotels will now have to pay for development of the beach. The state government has decided to resume the collection of beach-user fee, which was stopped in early 2009 following opposition from hoteliers and tourists.

According to the government plan, tourists in luxury hotels will have to pay Rs 10 per room and those in budget hotels will have to dish out Rs 5 along with their bills. The money would be deposited with the Puri district administration's beach development committee (BDC) as per a report in TOI by Debabrata Mohapatra.

The collection of the fee was in vogue in 2008. Plush hotels used to collect Rs 25 from tourists while middle and ordinary ones were charging Rs 10 and Rs 5. "We would again start the collection of user fee. It is an affordable amount. Though it is not mandatory, we urged the hoteliers to convince their guests to pay the money for development of the beach," said Puridistrict collector Aravind Agarwal following a BDC meeting on Tuesday evening.

Hoteliers, however, apprehend that the resumption of the fee would meet the same fate as the earlier drive. "Some tourists would pay the money eagerly. But many would complain like they did earlier," said Raj Kishore Patra, secretary of Hotel Association of Puri.

Tourists, too, have expressed their reservations on the plan. "We don't mind paying the user fee. But the district administration should utilize the money in the right way," said Andrea Philipp, a German tourist.

Notably, the BDC collects Rs 500, Rs 300 and Rs 200 from big, middle and small hotels respectively for beach maintenance. "Even though we are paying a maintenance fee, the beach continues to remain dirty and dark. Condition of the beach at Penthakota is the worst. Regular cleaning should be carried out on this particular stretch," said Srimant Kumar Dash, president ofIndia Japan Friendship Centre, an organization working for promotion of tourism in the two countries.

The annual tourist footfall in Puri is around 55 lakhs. The town has more than 300 hotels, lodgings and guest houses with a loding capacity of nearly 40,000 tourists.

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