The Orissa government is peeved over the alleged attempts by some tour operators to attract foreign tourists to areas inhabited by primitive Bonda tribes in the Maoist-hit Malkangiri district through objectionable content on websites about their lifestyle and dress.

"This is not the way to promote anything. Any observation about a community in the public domain must be in good taste. We will ask the operators to remove the questionable writings from their websites forthwith. If they don't pay heed, we will initiate legal action against them," state tourism and culture secretary Ashok Tripathy said. 

"Nearly 50,000 tourists come to Orissa in a year. About 5,000 of them visit tribal areas. They are all rich and enlightened visitors. Cheap offers mentioning that Bondas roam naked and their photographs cannot lure them. It is obnoxious some tour operators have made such references. We are initiating steps to stop such propaganda," Tripathy said.

The Bondas, one of the primitive tribes of Orissa, live in the high hills of Khairput block of Malkangiri. The 2011 census put their population at a little over 6,650 . The hill, spread over 130 sq km, is forested and nearly 4,000 ft above the mean sea level. Majority of Bondas live in the lower part of the hill. Over the years, they have changed drastically and live like any other person from the plains as per a report in TOI by Rajaram Satapathy.

The lifestyle of a few hundred Bondas in the hills, though changed somewhat, continues to be primitive. The women mostly cover their bodies with colourful beads and their private parts with small pieces of cloth which they stitch with threads. The Bondas speak Remo, an Austro-Asiatic language belonging to Mundari group.

Following reports of tour operators taking visitors, particularly foreigners, to these areas and taking nude photographs of primitive tribes, the Orissa government banned tourists in Bonda villages without permission from the home department or the district collector.