Even as people continue to throng the polder banks of Malarikkal to view the waterlily flowers in full bloom, the tourism festival organised in connection with the annual season appears to have run into rough weather following protests over the imposition of fee for visitors.
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The event, which took off on August 14, stipulates a fee of ₹30 per head for entering the Malarikkal village, venue of the festival, besides a parking fee of ₹50 The organisers have also imposed a fee of ₹500 and ₹1,000 for wedding and commercial shoots at the flowering locations .
The move, however, drew criticism from a section of visitors, who have launched an online campaign questioning the rationale behind the imposition of fee for a mere wayside view of flowers. Criticisms are also being levelled against the fee of ₹100, set per head for a boat ride among these flowers, by comparing it with the cost of a boat cruise along the Vembanad lake.
As the protests continued to rage, the organisers have decided to withhold the imposition of fees for the time being.
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Confirming the decision, K.Anil Kumar, Coordinator of the Meenachil-Meenanthara- Kodoor river re-linking programme, said the visitors would be exempted from the fee only during the lean, weekdays.
“The fee package, which seeks to regulate the tourists descending on the venue, will be applicable during the weekends and holidays. Of the entry fee of ₹30 per head, ₹20 goes towards the committees that own these polders while plans are also afoot to develop tourist infrastructure in the village,”, he said.
According to him, efforts are also in place for making the State government declare Malarikkal as a tourism zone during the flowering season.
“This will help us put in place a system for crowd-management as well as revenue sharing model with the farmers as an incentive for not destroying these waterlilies using pesticides,” he added.
The tourism fest, organised also in association with the District Tourism Promotion Council, Malarikkal Tourism society and the Thiruvarpp panchayat, is being held in about 1,000 acres of paddy fields in the interiors of Malarikkal, where the lily bulbs have begun to bloom since the onset of the monsoon.
As many as 120 boats have been made available for ferrying the tourists to the flowering locations here. The permitted time of visit is between 6 a.m and 10 a.m
The flowering season in Malarikkal became a rage on social media in 2019 with visitors making a beeline for a walk through the flowers and capture photos. Last year, the flowering locations were made off-limits to non-locals owing to the COVID-19 restrictions.