- I Paid A Bribe
- 13 years ago
- 3202 views
Ticket cost of Elephant rides pocketed by local mahouts at Cauvery Nisargadama
- Forest
- Entry into Park or Forest
- Paid INR 75
Venue: Madikeri, Coorg (FOr lack of finding the city in the drop down, I've marked the nearest city as Mysore)
Background: Cauvery Nisargadama is a wildlife sanctuary maintained by the forest department. It has an entry fee of Rs. 10 per adult and Rs. 5 per child. They also have tickets of Rs. 25 per head for elephant rides.
Though there are these "elephant ride" tickets being sold at the entrance, it is not highlighted. After you enter the considerably large sanctuary, at the very end of the sanctuary, elephant rides are being held. If you decide to indulge in an elephant ride and want to buy a ticket, there are no ticket counters. So what to people do? They go ask the local forest official what they can do as they do not have a ticket. So this is what he tells anyone who asks him where a ticket can be purchased from at a nearby spot: "Sir, tickets are only available at the entrance. You can either go purchase it from there or you can give me the money, I will have someone buy the ticket for you." As Indians, we all understand that this is a call for a bribe. It was not just my thinking/understanding, but an evident fact looking at what was happening as well. I feel ashamed, but I did pay the man a bribe for 3 people's ride (Quite frankly, I was exhausted and did not have the time, energy nor the patience to walk 2+2 km to and fro just to purchase a ticket). He pocketed the amount in full and gave me a soiled ticket for me to hold onto till I mounted the elephant.
Solution: Have a ticket counter where elephant rides are being offered could reduce the menace, if not eliminate bribery altogether. This would ensure that the forest dept. gets ample funds and that also translates to elephants being fed better and the park being maintained better (which the park really lacked, in my opinion).