Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Summer holiday spot in ruins

Thiruvananthapuram: The sweltering summer is driving citizens in droves to large open spaces in the city in the evenings. Their favourite destinations are the Shanghumugham beach, the Museum grounds and the lawns of Kanakakunnu palace.

Sadly, the Shanghumugham beach, one of the most favoured summer holiday spots in the city, is a picture of poor upkeep. The sands are littered with plastic, paper cups and more dangerously, broken glass.

The plastic and glass pieces are mainly from the hundreds of discarded catapult-powered gliders sold by migrant hawkers. The glider frames are fitted with small and fragile light emitting diodes that break into miniscule pieces on the slightest impact. The glass pieces have often cut children playing on the sand.

The absence of green cover near the beach is severely felt by visitors during day. Senior citizens remember a time when a vast area of the beach near the ‘Kalmandapam’ was lush green with casuarina trees. A government project to green Shangumugham with salt resistant varieties of flowering trees, such as ‘chelanthi,’ has not taken off yet.

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