Vizag beaches not suitable for Blue Flag Certification, says Central official

Visakhapatnam: Not even single stretch of beach along the 1,000-km long coast line in Andhra Pradesh is suitable to develop to get international standard certification. With the high current, underwater rocks and due to highly polluted waters, no beach in AP, including the one in Visakhapatnam is eligible for international standard.

“Blue Flag Certification (BFS),” is issued by Denmark based Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE), a non-government organisation after screening 33 parameters including environmental education, information, water quality, environmental management, safety, and services. But there are no beaches in the country including Goa beaches which got the Blue Flag Certification.

The central government is making efforts to develop at least one beach in all the 13 coastal states in the country under the Integrated Coastal Zone Management Project (ICZMP) Phase-I. Under the programme, various activities relating prevention of pollution, safety, surveillance services and awareness programmes on environment education have been planned in identified beaches.

The central government has asked the 13 coastal states and Union territory to identify one beach in their states to implement the project. The Andhra Pradesh government has shown interest to develop one of six beaches in Visakhapatnam.

However, due to the technical reasons including high currents, hundreds of drowning deaths, polluted waters and beach erosion, no beach is safe and suit for BFS. “Even the other beaches in AP are not suitable for tourism development. Particularly, the beaches in Visakhapatnam are not safe. We are waiting for AP Government’s recommendations,” a senior official of Union Government of Environment, Forest and Climate Change said.