What is going on in the Lakshadweep Islands?

What’s going on in the Lakshadweep Islands?
1)Bangaram was closed due to a dispute over the licence with CGHEarth. It has been closed now for two years and as the Indian courts are not known for their speediness this could go on for some years.
2)The Lakshadweep Government have not renewed the diving franchise to Lacadives and despite being an excellent dive company it looks as though they will not return.
3) Now I have heard that the Lakshadweep Administration has stopped issuing permits to people who want to visit Agatti due to a dispute over the licence with those that that run the resort.
So it seems that the only way to visit the Lakshadweep Islands at the moment is to go on the ferry cruises organised by SPORTS.
While I do not know all the facts this seems crazy as the Lakshadweep Administration is losing money from its tourism interests.
I have been a regular visitor there for many years and enjoyed the isolation and the scuba diving –sadly this will not be possible this year –and who can tell when things will get back to something like normality.

Very unfortuate and extremely irresponsible behaviour from administration, not sure why tourists have to suffer because of a legal battle between them and a private resort.

It seems from the post by NHSWorker in other thread, permit still be possible if one wants to stay at Govt GH. Is it true? Also is this happening for both Indians and Foreigners as so far I know everyone needs permit to visit Lakshadweep, or they are doing this specific to foreigners?

Even for SPORTS, so far I know they are only operating Samudram package, Coral-Reef is irregular and most likely Swaying Palm, Taratashi, Marine Wealth, Week end none of these packages are being operated.

SPORTS this year has also changed few package dates abruptly putting people in a tricky situation especially those who booked flights and other connections much before.

Not sure what exactly gone wrong with Lakshadweep this year.

The tourist season has just started and this is not at all good. Hope the island administration could do something. Kaushik, I think you've booked for the Samudram package right?

Yes and the date changed, it's horrible!! Now I don't trust SPORTS, rather keep an eye on Lakshadweep Authority's Ship Schedule, which is published till Mid Jan as of now.

I'm only going on a hunch but I suspect the problems involving Kadmat, Bangaram and Agatti are about money for new leases. The problem with lack of SPORTS packages maybe due to the difficulty in contacting SPORTS which has put potential tourists off especially when schedules keep changing. SPORTS is an organisation managed by the Lakshadweep administration so why can't they put a bit more effort inot getting things right? As tourism has been a significant income for the Lakshadweep Administration you would have thought the could have handled it better by allowing the existing operators to continue until court cases are dealt with (however I accept that some cases can take 10 years or more to get to court!.

Agreed, it's all about money!! You would be surprised to see the lack of coordination between two government agencies, ministries in India, so I am not surprised if inland/water transport doesn't sync with Tourism, very common in India. Tourism is not just significant, it's the only significant source of income for Lakshadweep but really pathetic the way they handle the tourists. Why would be people paying money for the services would consider how long a court case should take to get settled or who would be getting hotel lease or if there is any coordination between 2 nodal agencies of Govt? Tourists would surely find some other destinations, it's Lakashadweep who would suffer. We all understand that barring those few Government officials. Just to get a scan copy of my receipt I had to call and follow up with SPORTS for 2 months. They are simply horrible!!

Absolutely agree with this. I had been trying to reach them for months and literally fed up with the delay in getting their response. SPORTS should be more responsible in coordinating the island tours. Tourists are shedding huge amount and they do expect some courtesy.

Courtesy - not a word you will hear often on some islands there. Last year on Kadmat, without warning a group of Italians were shunted from their a/c rooms because some VIP's on a freebie wanted the rooms so the Italians were given non a/c 2 km from the dive centre - they were not happy and doubt they will return. The accommodation is not cheap - Rs3000 per person per night so you would expect to get what you requested. I love the island and the diving but the government cook is a joke - the food is bland, cold and repetitive for example the dessert would often be fruit - no choice - one day an apple the next day an orange and soon. I know that Bangaram was more expensive but CGHEarth provided 5 star cuisine. We had a favourite room on Kadmat but the shower was broken some years ago and so we only had a hand held shower. In five years nobody has fixed it! You won't starve on the food and you get over having no proper shower but at the cost surely the administration should provide better facilities. As Lacadives no longer have the diving franchise on Kadmat it is doubtful I will go there again - a great shame and a loss to their economy.

Hi

Still waiting to hear if we can stay at the Govt run accomm. Given time difference I don't suppose I'll hear until tomorrow now.
Am now trying to find out if I can get get a refund on the air india tickets, or failing that at least a transfer to another flight to another city. I hope Air India are reasonable as it seems pointless running a flight when no-one can stay at the place.

As it stands we are looking at losing 21,000rps :-( Whilst our main trip is covered by insurance this part of it wasn't :-( A missed departure I could accept losing the money over, but losing it because two Govt agencies are playing hardball with everyone is rather peeving to say the least and the one thing I wouldn't have expected to have to consider an insurance claim for.

When totally gutted & irate NHSworker, especially when in context the cost of the flight was 4 shifts worth of time and money :-(

for those who haven't seen the other thread I have pasted in the advice from the Indian Travel Agent below

quote
"Kindly be informed that Lakshadweep Administration have suspended issue of entry permits to Agatti Island from 01 NOV 2011 onwards, due to legal tussle between the Agatti island resort and "Lakshadweep Administration" over the licence of the resort.

Legal procedures are started and it takes some time to know the final verdict from the court . In this context , we have the following options for you :

1) Change the destination of stay to Andaman islands / Kerala (subject to availability)
2) On cancellation, you will receive the refund to your card ( used for making the advance payment ) for an amount of INR 4750
3) Alternate stay option shall be offered in the Department of Tourism's Holidays Home at Agatti itself

We deeply regret for the inconvience caused to you , due to the recent legal tussle between the Agatti Island & Lakshadweep Administrstion"
endquote

This is really disappointing. On one hand the government participates in international trade fairs to promote tourism & on the other they are trying to destroy whatever little tourism Lakshadweep has. Lacadives is one of the pioneer Scuba Diving agency in India & probably the only one who had a Dive shop in Lakshadweep (there is one more dive shop on Lakshadweep I guess) & even we (Me & Wife) were considering doing a course with them in near future. Hope the problems are resolved & tourism get back to normal at Lakshadweep.

Ronak.

It looks a strong possibility we will only lose a small amount of money on the airfare (3000rps) as it looks as if the airfare I bought allows refunds/chnages for a fee :-)

Trying to access the online booking section of air india at the minute is like trying to nail jelly to a tree! :-/

I really feel for you. Having the expectation of a great experience dashed by bureaucrats. Have patience with Air India - those of us who know the country understand that things work very slooooooowly.

Finally managed to get through to Air India
The ticket was refundable less a 1500rps fee, which was half of what I was expecting Took 30secs for the payment to be taken and 25 days for a refund to be made.....yes they do run sloooooowly but at least they run

Still gutted though as this was going to be one of the highlights of the trip.
Surely the Govt must realise this is going to kill the local economy and damage tourism. As someone else said surely better to allow bookings made to proceed and keep the court case running in the background, that way everyone wins, from locals, the operator, the Govt and lastly the tourist.

Kerala Greenery, the agents we used to book accommodation, have now updated their website which I have pasted below. I think the 3rd paragraph spells it out clearly now. That is to say it even looks like the Govt run accom is not an option anymore

I was in Agatti from 17th to 21st November. Agatti resort & the sea shells resort are still closed. Only homestays are operating. I did booking with Agatti resort in the month of September and also paid the advance. Only few days before my travel I was directed to one of the homestays by the Agatti Resort office. You can still do diving & other water sports. There were hardly 15-20 tourists in the island. To add to this confusion the air india flight from kochi was cancelled a day before we landed, and luckily Kingfisher was operational!!