The Blue Flag indicating the prestigious international Blue Flag eco-label went up on Kozhikode’s Kappad beach on Sunday, making it the first of eight beaches in India to get the coveted certification.
The flag stands on the historic Kappad beach flanked by the Indian flag on one side and another flag - ‘Saving My Beach’ - on the other. With this, Kappad beach joins the league of the cleanest beaches in the world, as the Blue Flag tag is only given to those freshwater or marine beached which pass stringent global standards of cleanliness, safety, eco-friendliness and sustainability. The certification is given by a Denmark based Not For Profit called Foundation for Environmental Education
“This certification means that we have succeeded in developing the beach as a global tourist spot. All inspections regarding sustainability and the environment were done and only after this we got the certification,” AK Saseendran, Minister of Transport in the Pinarayi Vijayan government told a local channel.
The Union government has spent six crores on the project to get the Kappad beach blue flag certified. In addition to this, the Kerala government has spent 1 crore on the beach. Facilities which have come up are ‘walking paths, jogging tracks, clean toilets, changing rooms, showers, seating arrangements for people. Restrooms are also 100 percent disability friendly.
“We are maintaining the beach with about 40 staff members right now. This is being done by the firm which won the contract to build the beach infrastructure. Once the firm hands it over to the Beach Management Committee, they will have to identify income or beach maintenance. What we are looking at right now is the ticketing collection. Entry ticket collection and jogging track ticket, cafeteria, parking and tokens to use other features of the beach,” Kozhikode District Tourism Promotion Council (DTPC) Secretary told local news channels.
In September 2020, as part of the eco-labelling process ahead of the Blue Flag certification, the beach also saw a campaign titled ‘I am saving my beach’. Koyilandy MLA K Dasan hoisted the ‘Saving My Beach’ flag on the Kappad shore, kickstarting the campaign on the eve of the International Coastal Cleanup day in September.
Eight beaches in India namely Kappad in Kerala, Shivrajpur (Gujarat), Ghoghla (Diu), Kasarkod and Padubidri (Karnataka), Rushikonda (Andhra Pradesh), Golden (Odisha) and Radhanagar (Andaman & Nicobar Islands) have been selected for the Blue Flag tag. So far Kappad is the only beach that has received the certification.
Facelift works which included infrastructure development and beautification of the coast had begun back in 2019 with 55 percent of the work completed by December last year. The work was inspected by a national jury comprising members from the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFF), following which a report was presented to the International jury.