With God’s Own Country racing to become Liquor’s Own Country, all ecotourism centres are facing the threat of bottles, in glass as well as plastic. The scenic meadows of Ponmudi are a classic example where the ‘eco’ part of tourism seems to have gone for a toss, converting the green hills to glass hills.
The vengeance with which a liquor bottle is shattered to smithereens at a scenic and calm locale defies reason just as a Malayali’s need for liquor for any occasion, even a picnic. The Vana Samrakshana Samithy (VSS) members are a tired lot, picking up sackfuls of these bottle bits.
‘’On a high, they take off their shirts, urinate all around the place and break liquor bottles on the rocks. By evening, women and families find it very difficult to be here. The situation has worsened in the last one month. Maybe it is because of a shortfall in the surveillance,’’ said Gopu Chandran, KTDC guest house manager at Ponmudi. Of course, there are a number of cleanliness drives in place, intensified checking in place and at both Kallar and Ponmudi, tourists are asked to bring back the plastic they take uphill.
Yet, you see heaps of plastic waste being burned right on top of the Upper Sanatorium, and ironically by the Ponmudi VSS members themselves.
The cool misty air on the mountains has been replaced by the pungent odour of burning plastic, so sickening as to make you throw up.
‘’This is the same unfortunate situation in most of our ecotourism destinations, be it Ponmudi, Kallar, Bonacaud, Palaruvi and the relatively less-known Mankayam. It is becoming impossible for the real eco-lovers to visit these places, not to talk of women,’’ said a resident of Maruthankuzhy, Sreedevi S Kartha, who has travelled across the length and breadth of the country.
For wanderlust women, locations like Ponmudi and Bonacaud are becoming an absolute no-no. Even little children are unable to walk around freely as they might get hurt by these glass bits strewn all around the rocks and grass.
What’s more, the bottle bits and the fumes from burning plastic are becoming a huge threat to the fauna around.
Right at the beginning of monsoon is the breeding time for broad-tailed grass birds, and they nest in the grass of the meadows near the Upper Sanatorium. The plastic and the bottle pieces are destroying their habitat.
‘’The areas near the streams are breeding sites for certain rare and endemic birds and butterflies, including the Grey-headed Bulbul and the Travancore Evening Brown butterfly. The whole lot of streams flowing in the Kallar-Ponmudi route are being polluted with plastic waste and glass pieces, resulting in habitat loss for these birds,’’ said a nature-lover and a founder member of the city-based Green organisation Warblers and Waders.
Forest officials, however, say that this is not possible. ‘’The visitors are not allowed to take liquor bottles up the mountains, at least not now. They are persuaded to leave the bottle behind at Kallar,’’ informed District Forest Officer Mohan Pillai.
Just opposite the ticket counter at Golden Valley in Kallar, hidden from view by thatched coconut leaves, you will find a heap of liquor bottles. ‘’We ask the visitors to bring back the liquor bottles here after consuming the alcohol, instead of throwing it all over the mountains. These are recycled,’’ informed the VSS volunteer at the ticket counter.
Alcohol is allowed, bottles are not. Forest Department can only advise, confiscating liquor bottles is the duty of Excise officials, we are told.
Perhaps, someday in the near future, we can market disaster tourism as well.
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