Travelling to Kovalam in the near future? Read this!

jezzer

Just returned to blighty after spending three glorious weeks in Kerala. We spent our final week in Kovalam, which was great until Saturday morning (24th Feb) when dozens of police, some in riot gear descended on lighthouse beach accompanied by workmen, trucks and a JCB. They then proceeded to start demolishing shops restaurants and Hotel frontages.

Most of the buldings affected were towards the middle of Lighthouse beach, with a few shops demolished completely and a couple of restaurants and two hotels left severely damaged.

The two hotels affected are the Sunset and the Orion both of which are now closed. One hotel on Hawah beach, the Sea Rock had most of its outside eating area ripped up, I think it is still open, although I wouldn't want to be going there at the moment.

I discovered after talking to some locals that the reason for all this activity is that the property owners have built too close to the beach (within 15 metres) and after 5 years of warnings the authorities have now decided to act, using this as an example. Trouble is every shop,restaurant and hotel are affected so there's more to come.

I have some photos if anyone is interested in having a look. Could do with some advice on making the photo's available as they are over the 100k size limit for attachments. Please be gentle as i'm a newbie to this posting lark.

cyberhippie

Good thing too. I do feel for the people who's businesses were torn down. However I'm sure just like in Palolem, they knew which rules they were breaking and decided to carry on regardless.
The result was the action you witnessed!

kullukid

Oh Dear!! If you go into something like Googles picasa which is free you can download your pics into there & then put the link to your picasa page on here. KK

Nick-H

Jezzer, welcome and thanks for the news.

Those shops and eating places along the beach have been there your years, haven't they?

This sounds like an own-goal for Kovalam tourism to me: Hey! Come visit Kovalam, but we've knocked down the things you come for...

Yes, please, do upload the photos. Perhaps you'd like to upload them to the photo section, and post here to let us know when you do?

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pundabee

A very useful piece of software for resizing your photos is Image Resizer from Microsoft. You use it by right-clicking on any photo, left-clicking "Resize Pictures" and choosing the size you want. The photos can then be uploaded. It can be found here:

Image Resizer

Attaching the photos to your post has the advantage, over posting them externally, that they won't suddenly disappear, i.e. anyone reading this post in 5 years time will still have access to the photos.

cyberhippie

The fact that they have been there for years stinks of corruption Nick. I'm not fully aware of the story in Kovelam. However if it similar to the scenario in Goa, then people were paying off officials to put up illegal shacks and bars in the coastal protected zone or just basically squatting the land. This was excaberated in Palolem at least, by then going on to ignore the seasonal rules applied to the beach!!

This endured for years until someone somewhere decided enough was enough (I think in Palolems case it was taken to the High Court in Mumbai) demolistions followed after a series of warnings were issued. Those who heeded them got off quite lightly those who ignored took a financial hit.
Most got new permit within the season, some lost camps and shops that were after all deemed illegal

Of course the officials who took all the "kick back" walked away scot free!

Let's see what the story is in Kovelam, perhaps I'm completely wrong in this instance but with what we've got to go on. it all seems to be very familiar to me!!

Understand that places in India operate for years, sometimes generations without planning permission, too near to highways or rail track, without proper licensing.
Every now and again the shit hits the fan for these people, who in many cases have knowingly greased the wheels to continue to run a business despite the letter of the law!!

A friend risks losing his hotel. He knowingly used agricultural land to build an hotel. He paid off the right folk for years, to turn a blind eye, paid commercial taxes?????????? has been doing business for around 10 years and now with new politicos in power, with some agenda hidden behind planting trees, are fighting a court battle to have the hotel destroyed, at his cost.

I was amazed at this story, that someone would put the livelihoods of two extended families on the line like this, based on petty corruptions told me a lot about how corruption is for some little more than the traditional way of "getting things done"

He really didn't seem to understand how he had compromised his position either. Nice guy too just "getting things done"

Nick-H

You're right about all that, of course.

But all that beach-side stuff is Kovalam.

Well, ok... without it it might be that unspoilt beach that attracted people in the first place. Except for the pile of building rubble...

cyberhippie

Here you go some links to the story it does seem they were knowingly encroaching on the beach and had been warned

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=da ta/subcontinent/2007/February/subcontinent_February940.xml&s ection=subcontinent&col=

http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=World _News&subsection=India&month=F ebruary2007&file=World_News200 7022521157.xml

http://www.hindu.com/2007/02/25/stor...2520730300.htm

jezzer

Thanks for all the tips regarding my photo's. Managed to list them in the photo section, Members Gallery

Nick-H

Here's some news coverage. It doesn't sound as bad as I thought!

The Hindu

Khaleej Times

The Peninsular On-Line


...Beat me to it CH!

kullukid

Thanks for that Jezzer, looks terrible but it still made me want to go back again Did they bother to vacate the premises first before they attacked?? KK

cyberhippie

Looks pretty grim Jezzer cheers for the photos,

Don't think I'll be visiting kovelam anytime soon though, not my cup of tea at all

Still one mans poison...............

ananda2193

Do they have to do this s**t in the high season!
I'd be really pissed off If I payed thousands of dollars and flew thousands of miles for a peaceful beach holiday and arrived to find the beach full of rubble like a tsunami hit it.

Thank's for the pics btw.

Digital Drifter

While enforcement is spotty, petty and pretty much a russian roulette, there is something called sea water creep which happens when you dig deep foundations very close to the beach.


Even allowing for illegal land grab, if these chaps had stayed more than 500m from the beach, it would have been less of a problem. Sea water would have crept inland with bad results for freshwater ponds.

So, apart from the shacks, it would have been one barren land in and around beach.

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jezzer

Thanks for rooting out those news reports Nick, its good to get the official version instead of relying on rumours and speculation. I hope no members of this site have booked or worse paid for accommodation at any of these hotels