Date:07/06/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/06/07/stories/2007060708810300.htm

Kerala - Alappuzha

Responsible eco-tourism comes to Pathiramanal

Staff Reporter

Muhamma grama panchayat to kick start project Muhamma grama panchayat to kick start project

ALAPPUZHA: After over a decade's struggle to protect Pathiramanal Island in Vembanad Lake from being handed over to tourism industry giants, the Muhamma grama panchayat will finally start its own eco-tourism project on the island on August 14.

The inauguration of the project, titled the Pathiramanal Biodiversity Conservation and Responsible Eco-tourism Development Project, would not be like normal inaugurals. Over 1,000 country boats carrying fishermen from Muhamma and surrounding localities would converge at the island and sow seeds, plant saplings and all that was needed for mangroves around the island.

(Pathiramanal, a small island on the backwaters of Alappuzha, is a haven for hundreds of rare birds migrating from different parts of the world. Surrounded by Vembanad Lake, stretching from Alappuzha to Kochi and Kayamkulam Lake, Pathiramanal is accessible only by boat.)

Announcing this at a seminar on the project jointly organised by the grama panchayat and the Centre for Earth Science Studies (CESS), Thiruvananthapuram, at Muhamma, near here, on Tuesday, Finance Minister T.M. Thomas Isaac, who was also the local MLA, said the Central Government had agreed for a grant of Rs.5 crore for the project, which was the first of its kind initiated by a grama panchayat anywhere in the country.

The State Government had already set aside Rs.50 lakh in the recent budget for the project.

Mr. Isaac said the outcome of the legal battle with the Oberoi Group over the island, whether it was in favour or against the State Government, would not affect the Government's decision not to allow any constructions on the island.

Long-term goal

The long-term goal of the project was to make the island a sought-after tourist destination in the State instead of the existing system of incidental tourist visits linked to backwater tourism. The island, home to 88 species of birds, 58 species of fish, 23 varieties of spiders and 34 species of butterflies, is said to have more than 160 plant species as well.

The proposed activities under the project included an environmental management plan for Vembanad Lake; a computerized information system on Pathiramanal Island; peripheral intervention for regeneration and conservation of mangroves and other plant species; cleaning of the island and strengthening of the biodiversity.

The project, Mr. Isaac said, would also see that motorboats were banned near the island and tourists being taken around in paddleboats or oar boats.