Claudia Romiti

Excerpted from Romiti, C (2005) “Kerala A Travelers’ Delight” [EQUATIONS;
Globalverkstan ]

The town of Bekal is situated in the Kasaragod district of Kerala and is known for its architectural monuments, splendid beaches and quiet countryside. Its economy is based on agriculture and fishing but most of the people are employed as fishermen. Fishing is the main resource for the economy and Bekal has the distinction of having the maximum number of woman directly involved in fishing activities (1).

Bekal as a Special Tourism Area

Bekal is a little-known tourist destination, mostly visited by travellers on-route to other nearby, more popular places like Coorg or Mangalore. Its foray into intensive development of tourism began in 1992, when the Indian Government, through the Tourism National Development Plan, identified 5 regions of the country as Special Tourism Area (STAs) of which one was Bekal. STAs were to feature tourism projects approved only by the Central and State Governments. Added incentives like tax holidays, financial and technical assistance, cheap resource availability and a strong infrastructure base were an integral part of the concept of STAs. The concept of the STA was to develop a new economy where the involvement of the private sector was encouraged not only through tourism policy but also through the New Industrial Policy of 1991. The concept of intensive development of tourism through STAs in India was akin to the development of mass tourism destinations in Indonesia and Thailand.

The Main Features of the Project

In execution of the plan to convert Bekal into a Special Tourism Area, two authorities were constituted - the Bekal Development Authority (BDA), for the administrative supervision of the project and Bekal Resorts Development Corporation Ltd (BRDC) to develop the area as an international stan Beach Tourist Destination In 1996, the government approved a plan supervised by the BRDC and proposed by two architects from Australia and Manila who presented it as a sustainable tourism project (socio-economically and environmentally) that would increase the benefits to the local people through increased international and local arrivals. The Executive Summary of the Bekal Tourism Project, prepared by the BRDC indicates that Bekal was chosen as a good potential destination in South Asia for unexploited beaches and for its good connectivity with others cities in Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. The project area fell under the territorial jurisdiction of 4 panchayats of Chemnad, Uduma, Pallikere and Ajanoor. The project involved the development of the region by building hotels, setting up recreational facilities (golf, aqua sports, tennis) and cultural facilities (demonstration halls and auditoriums for the traditional arts). An essential component of the project was building infrastructure as the project itself was conceived Urban-restructuring Plan . This included improving roads along the coast, setting up new water supply systems by utilizing the water of Chandragiri and Kari Cheri rivers to set up waste management systems with the main users being hotels and the household.

The Impacts of the Project

The negative economic impacts that the project would have had on the local people can be understood in terms of the loss of livelihood opportunities through displacement. Development of the resorts and other facilities would involve displacing entire villages whose populations were involved either in cultivation (of paddy and tobacco) or fishing. This would lead to direct unemployment of 10,000 fishermen and farmers but would also severely impact the livelihoods of other who are dependent on these industries like fish merchants, ice planters and casual laborers, thus violating the fundamental right of the citizens conferred by,Constitution of India.

Although the fisher folk said that they have objection to tourism, they were clear that they would defend their right anybody would try to take away their traditional fishing land. Another direct impact could be the reduction in the fish catch resulting from construction activity and water sports and other rigorous activity in ocean and backwaters (2).

The fear of adverse socio-cultural impacts of the project were equally alarming Local people began to fear that the place could change into other beach destinations like Goa and Kovalam bringing related problems of commercialization of the sex, drug addiction plus the sexual exploitation the children. Voicing the reasons for protesting mass tourism in Kerala, Kumari, a local woma don t want the infiltration of this type of foreign culture 33 . At the time, Bekal was already experiencing that such fear well not unfounded. Newspapers where reporting news about how the local people forcefully sent back two foreign tourists because there were walking semi-nude on the beach and another case detained a youth who was found carrying 4 kilos of ganja. The commercialization of rich local culture and tradition was also important element of this fear.

Alongside this, environmentalists had established that the construction of a resort inviting mass tourism, with all the infrastructures could provoke serious environmental problems not only disturbing the existing ecology but also due to the pollution wastage of water and the use of pesticides and insecticides to maintain the golf courses. Most importantly, the project was envisaged and construction carried out in blatant violation of the Coastal Regulation Zone Act of 1991, which classified certain areas of the project as falling under the sensitive zones of CRZ I and CRZ III (3) . The development of the resort would displace 3 villages (Chettukundu, Kappil and Kanneel) in violation of the Act which states that only uninhabited regions can be developed, also the construction of facilities inside the area of the Bekal Fort, considered as a protected monument was also in violation of the Act.

The Role of Civil Society in the Campaign

In protest of this ludicrous plan, a mass campaign was launched against the Bekal International Tourist Project, supported by civil society organisations. The campaign involved sending letters of protest to project officials questioning the rationale and specifics of the project and to government officials including the Prime Minister of the country emphasizing the negative impacts of the project especially on the fisher folk. Many organisations were instrumental in this campaign including Bekal Samrakshana Samithi and Bekal Fort Action Committee, Sharjah and non-governmental organizations. There were other grounds for opposing the project - the Ezhimala Naval Academy, located 40 km from Bekal a strategically important defence base of the country, opposed the project for the possible risk to the national security as the project was situated too close to the naval base and could provoke spy activities.

The contradictory statement issued by government officials itself is an indication that all were not consulted and not in favour of the project. For example, the Kasargod District Collector said I am not expecting any foreign tourist to come to Bekal once the project materialises . It s the loneliness of this place which attracts foreigners to Bekal; once the tourist village is built that attraction will be over forever. (4) If one is to assess the situation of the Bekal Project today, one can notice that the campaign has significantly changed the attitude and objective of the developers. The BRDC has changed its program and has shifted focus to sustainability with safeguarding the fisher folk and the farmers, preventing the commercialisation of the cultural and art values and respecting the rules of the CRZ. However, Bekal continues to fast develop into a large tourist destination with many new hotels and resorts in the pipeline. Probably was reflects the aftermath of the Bekal campaign and its impact today is the statement of th Chief Minister who said in an interview regarding the Bekal Proj I am proud to be here, but not happy as I feel this should have happened five years ago but unfortunately, delay has been crippling development activities in the State (5) . The wish of the politicians to make Bekal into mass tourism destination is clearly present.

Notes:

1. Equations, “ Report of the coastal zone watch program ” , March 2000
2. Letter written by Sree Kurumba Araya Samajam to Chief Minister of Kerala, Member of the Parliament and to the District Collector, 26 February 1992. 32 INSAF, Newsletter, June 1995, (Woman unite against the tourism organization).
3. The Act classifies coastal region into four categories: ecologically fragile areas as Costal facilities as CRZ-I, develop urban area with infrastructures facilities CRZ-II, tidier-developed Rural area as CRZ-III and coastal stretches in the Andaman and Nicobar Island, as well as Lakshadweep and other small island except when they are not otherwise included in CRZ-I, II or III as CRZ-IV.
4. Express News Service Bekal tourism center running into fresh row
5. Kerala Tourism Newsletter, Issue 131, July 2004