Opinion
Develop Lakshadweep but only for eco-friendly tourism
Summary
- Its potential as a holiday spot has got much of India talking after PM Modi’s recent visit, but it’s vital that its exploitation is an eco-friendly project right from the start. An island of the Maldives that became a garbage dump offers us an example of what not to do.
Ill-advised comments by Maldivian ministers against India sparked a diplomatic row, led to their ejection from authority in Maldives and set off social media calls here to develop Lakshadweep, a Union territory off the coast of Kerala, as an alternative tourist destination. While they hold parallel appeal as holiday isles with white-sand beaches amid dreamscape waters, replicating Maldives’ model of high-end resort exclusivity may not be possible at that scale, given Lakshadweep’s smaller size, even if new infrastructure can support an enlarged influx of tourists. Still, a push for a tourism leap is underway that appears to have stoked much anticipation among Indian holidayers, especially Instagram influencers of holiday picks. During Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent visit there, a clutch of developmental projects were announced. A new airport that can serve military purposes and handle civilian flights is being planned, even as a buzz has arisen over corporate interest in setting up five-star resorts on these islands. Although some of the enthusiasm visible on social media to visit Lakshadweep may be premature at this stage, its tourism-capacity expansion seems all but inevitable after Modi’s call for Indians to include it in their must-visit list.
Demand that heavily outstrips supply usually finds expression in inflated prices. Since Lakshadweep is an archipelago of 36 isles—only 10 of which are inhabited—with an area of just 32-sq-km, a key constraint even if we invest in land reclamation, market logic suggests it can serve only travellers at the top of our socio-economic pyramid. At first glance, its emergence as an exclusive spot may seem a tad unfair. But then, we cannot afford to go cheap anyway if we expect to save its ecology from the ruin that an ineptly planned build-up could cause. It is vital that it emerges as an eco-friendly destination. Not just for the safety of its natural treasures, which are already at some climate risk, but also as a marketing pitch in a world of rising eco-consciousness. And this must be done from the get-go, not after it’s too late, even if it proves costly for the country’s exchequer.
Maldives offers a cautionary example of what could go wrong as tourist arrivals swell over the years. With waste disposal a major challenge for islands, it apparently ended up turning a once-beautiful island into an ugly dump over-run with garbage, as seen in a much-forwarded video clip from a 2012 BBC report by travel writer Simon Reeve, whose masked presence at this site contrasts starkly with our impression of splendid sand-strips and crystal-clear waters. An estimated 300 tonnes of hard and soft waste was getting dumped daily, a scarily high rate for a 298-sq-km string of isles. This mustn’t happen in Lakshadweep. To ensure as much, we must pay close attention to the sustainability surveys that need to precede its development—not least because our record of rule-adherence has been lax in much of the country. If Lakshadweep’s preservation calls for elaborate disposal systems that involve waste shipment to the mainland, for example, these should be deployed in time. Construction will have to be kept minimal and under control, with service licences scarce to keep the islands from getting stormed by visitors. We should not let it go the way of Goa, either, where ill-behaved visitors have gone to the extent of littering public beaches with smashed beer bottles. Serving only a few rich holidayers makes sense because they can easily be taxed for the extra expenses borne. Alas, there’s no inexpensive way to do what we must.
