Concerns raised over heavy tourist inflow as garbage piles up on the Kallippara hills

Amidst concerns over people leaving behind a trail of garbage at the ecologically sensitive Kallippara hills, which is witnessing a heavy inflow of tourists this Neelakurinji flowering season, the civic body has decided to carry out a massive clean-up drive on Monday.

Earlier, Santhanpara panchayat had decided to close the site to visitors from Sunday onwards, but decided to postpone the move by another week due to heavy tourist footfall.

Santanpara panchayat president Liju Varghese said, “Even if the panchayat decides to close the tourist site, people will still reach there through another route and continue to litter. The Panchayat will remove the entire waste from the hills before closing down the site,” Mr. Varghese said.

According to Ramshad A, Santhanpara panchayat secretary, the local body has received over ₹13 lakh tourists during this season. “Tourists continue to pour in and on Sunday, we received about 7,000 people. As many as 21 Haritha Karma Sena members have been deployed on the hill to remove the waste and a massive cleaning drive is slated to be held on Monday,” said Mr. Ramshad.

A senior forest department official said that allowing large number of tourists on the hill without an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) study was a clear violation of the Biological Diversity Act. “The panchayat has no authority to allow such a large number of tourists on the hills without proper EIA study,” said the official.

Meanwhile, environmentalist M.N. Jayachandran said the Kallippara hills was witnessing an “overtourism”. “The hills and the road to the location have no capacity to hold such a huge number of visitors in such a short span of time.”

According to sources, a huge amount of plastic and other waste were strewn across the hills. “Nearly four tonnes of plastic waste have already been collected from the hills,” said the source.

Neelakurinji expert Dr. Jomy Augustine said that the blooming season of Neelakurinji flowers on the Kallippara hills was in the final stages. “The Neelakurinji plants use their energy gathered over a period of 12 years to bloom in full force and destroy afterwards. The plants at Kallippara have reached this stage,” said Mr. Augustine.