BENGALURU: A short hiking expedition to a waterfall, an arduous trek along the mountains or a thrilling safari drive through a national park in Karnataka will henceforth come with a feeling of comfort for travellers. Ensuring the safety of tourists visiting eco-tourism sites, the forest department has ordered insurance coverage for them. In a fresh direction to all tiger reserves and heads of wildlife divisions, the principal chief conservator of forests (wildlife) has ordered an extension of insurance coverage to all ticket-holders.
Featuring some of the best-maintained tiger reserves, national parks and wildlife sanctuaries, Karnataka’s forests have multiple eco-tourism destinations. Known for adventure activities such as trekking, kayaking, boat travel, rafting, and visit to waterfalls, elephant camps and safaris, these eco-tourism destinations attract thousands yearly.
However, many of these activities carry a risk quotient for tourists, ranging from sudden wildlife attacks to honeybee attacks to drowning, entailing death and permanent or partial disability. Surprisingly, none of these activities had any insurance cover all these days. In some exceptional cases, travellers were provided with compensation from either the state’s relief fund or the forest department. Even though Jungle Lodges and Resorts (JLR) used to provide insurance cover to its travellers during visits to these sites or while carrying out such activities, there was no insurance offered from the forest department.
“We want to extend a similar benefit to general travellers who may visit these destinations without booking through JLR or by directly buying tickets to take part in adventure activities. The insurance cost will be adjusted with the gate fee that we collect at these sites. We’ll collaborate with insurance agencies and provide insurance cover to travellers,” said Kumar Pushkar, Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife).
Demanding insurance coverage for travellers, wildlife conservationist Giridhar Kulkarni had recently petitioned the department quoting a similar initiative by the JLR and the Kerala forest department. “The Karnataka tourism policy 2020-26 emphasises providing a safe and high-quality experience for tourists. In fact, we’ve seen tragedies such as the Thekkady boat disaster in 2009 within Periyar Tiger Reserve of Kerala highlighting the safety of visitors. This will boost the state’s image. The department must impose a condition that the insurance coverage will be only for those who have taken tickets for entry to these sites, and could exclude liability for damage to property or loss of valuables of the visitors,” he said.
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