‘Blue Flag’ tag push for India’s beaches is violating coastal rules, evicting local communities
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On the evening of February 19, 58-year-old Anbukarasi sat alone in the usually bustling marketplace at the coconut grove in Puducherry’s Eden beach. Until a couple of days earlier, local residents were running temporary stalls selling fried fish, boiled corn, cucumbers, mangoes, toys and hats to tourists visiting the beach.
But on Sunday, February 15, the commissioner of the Ariyankuppam Commune Panchayat issued an eviction notice demanding that the stall owners vacate the area by Monday. On Tuesday, the police came and started pulling the tarpaulins off the 50-odd stalls. “They took about a hundred of us to the police station at Ariyankuppam,” said Anbukarasi, “We asked them to not remove the shops and that this is our only livelihood and we need our beach.”
After some negotiation and the involvement of a local legislator, the stall owners were given an extension till the 19th. While most stall owners left by then, Anbukarasi stayed put, urging every visitor to buy the cucumbers and boiled corn that she was selling. “I’m making the most of the three days that I am allowed to run my shop,” she said. “This is my only source of income other than the Rs 2,500 [a month] I get from the government...