Tourism and agriculture are the two major sectors that fetch livelihood to a large number of people in the district. These sectors face a variety of problems, but political leaders, who are in the midst of campaigning, are seemingly uninterested in solutions.
Tourism has immense possibilities here. Streamlining the operation of houseboats is a task yet to be done. Efforts to curb pollution from houseboats have attained little progress. Alappuzha lacks tourism infrastructure though a few measures, including beautifying of beaches and cleaning up of canals, have been initiated. Former Sri Lankan president Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunge, on a visit to Alappuzha recently, told The Hindu that infrastructure was lacking in Alappuzha.
The manifestoes of LDF and UDF refer to tourism broadly, but specific proposals on key issues are missing. The LDF manifesto mentions creating amenities for disposal of waste from houseboats. The LDF candidate in Alappuzha has promised to set up a houseboat terminal and museum network to boost tourism.
Pollution in canals, partly due to pesticide content flowing in from fields and houseboats, have reached alarming proportions.
The death of a boy of amoebic encephalitis, after swimming in polluted canal waters in Pallathuruthy recently, is a case in point.
Thanneermukkam bund has to be closed and opened as per a schedule, keeping in view of the flora and fauna in Kuttanad, says Ashish Mathew George, a programme officer at the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and Environment (ATREE), a non-government organisation engaged in environmental research.
A farm calendar has to be strictly adhered to for minimising pollution, he says.
Below sea level farming practices in Kuttanad could attract international tourists, says K.G. Padmakumar, agricultural scientist. But it needs coordinated efforts from various departments.
A demand for a unified authority to take up problems of farmers, put forth by Kuttanad Vikasana Samithy, has been pending for long, says father Thomas Peelianikkal, executive director of the samithy. The main fronts have chosen to ignore the demand, contrary to the wishes of the electorate to have less talk on politics and more on development.
