THRISSUR TOURISM The largest estuary system of the western coastal wetlands, Vembanad Kole spreads across Thrissur

and covers its coast in the scenic beauty of peaceful lagoons, moss-covered marshes and a fair share of breath-taking mangroves. Its extensive network of canals and lagoons fringed by coconut groves and paddy fields provide just the right setting for the tourism industry to flourish. What however forms the hindrance is the occasionally spotted raw sewage in the form of human excreta that can be found floating along the calm backwaters. Thrissur is the district with the largest domestic tourist arrival figures in the whole of Kerala. In the year 2006 & 2007 alone it saw an influx of around 17.5 lakhs domestic tourists. A major contributor to this number is the annually held Thrissur Pooram, temple festival which has also begun to become increasingly popular among an international audience. UNESCO, after constant observations for years, all over the world has adjudged Thrissur Pooram as the most spectacular festival event on this planet. Thrissur in its tourism agenda promotes ecologically sustained tourism which promises focus on the local culture, exposure to variant and exclusive avifauna and personal growth of the local population. However these claims fall flat on their face as soon as the waste management systems of Thrissur are discussed, leaving a void in the district administration. In the rush to promote Guruvayur as the temple town of India, the administration has allowed for hotels and resorts to develop at an unregulated and unstoppable pace overlooking issues of basic hygiene thus leaving many adjoining panchayats to deal with its stinking mess. The consequences of this unorganized growth have now seeped into the ground water table and reaches Vembanad Kole. According to a test conducted by the Environmental Engineering Laboratory of Department of Civil Engineering at Government Engineering College in Thrissur, the MPN count for coliforms in the temple tank comes around 1100/100 ml and the BOD (3 days, 27 degree centigrade) remains 22.8 mg/L. Coliform includes genera that originate in feces, in this case the assay is intended to be an indicator of fecal contamination. The permissible level of MPN for drinking water is 50 and for bating water 500 as per Central Pollution Control Board. The BOD permitted is 2 and 3 mg/L respectively. We could thus deduce, quiet simply, the quality of water that is being used to bless pilgrims who throng this temple. Shavakota is another location where daily 20 tippers of solid waste from Guruvayur is dumped and then left unattended. Even though letters from the PMO guarantee that waste segregation has been happening here for the past two years, in my recent

visit to the dump yard, I was assured by the watchman who has been employed there for the past 19 years that the waste segregation equipment was yet to come. Thrissur is also home to many scenic beauty spots like the Peechi Dam, Athirapally Waterfalls, Anakkayam Lake and Vazhachal Waterfalls. These spots according to MLA Rajaji Mathew Thomas have not got there due and plans are in the anvil to promote to the tourists its potential. Thrissur as a tourism destination has not yet developed, he says, It has the potential to become Keralas next international tourism hotspot. However, even as he talks about the plans that are being worked out to promote this district no mechanisms are being devised to monitor or control its issues of waste. Concerns on how the growth of tourism can put pressure on the already fragile ecology are brushed aside by a mere statement, If we look at the waste management issues of Allapuzha, our issues almost seem minuscule. Human waste now clogs two of 14 km of backwaters in our stretch, said C.F. George, a teacher and independent activist in an interview to the Hindu. It is pumped through an open canal which merges into the backwater, completely polluting it. The tourists who come here are unaware of what the locals face. It has become unliveable along the backwaters. Discussion threads in popular pilgrimage websites like www.indiadivine.org now discuss seriously on this issue. Mr. Mithun Raj, a resident of Puthenpally in his post even takes the role of warning future tourists, he writes, dear devotees please BEWARE OF THE FOOD AND WATER U TAKE FROM HOLY CITY GURUVAYOOR. Many tourists feel responsible and are willing to help with this issue, Mr. Sreedhar C. P. writes, As a Guruvayoor Devotee any help to support for this issue personally always ready. I will be very much happy that got a chance to doing a seva to Kannan. MLA Rajaji as a member of the Assembly Committee on Tourism, has elaborate plans of promoting the district as a Cultural Tourism hot-spot, Health Tourism location and Educational Tourism hub. The market of tourism he feels needs to be tapped in a strategic manner such that it gives the most mileage. Thrissur as it promotes itself for being the cultural capital of Kerala should feel responsible in bringing to its tourists a safe and clean destination. This responsibility has to be supported by a conscious administration who reviews not only mechanisms for waste disposal but also its capacity to handle an increased tourism inflow. The increased amount of waste being

produced by and for tourists and its serious impacts need to be equated with loss of livelihoods, destruction of avifauna and non-livable conditions of its residents.