Alappuzha City Needs to Have a Planned Traffic System

Alappuzha is one of the major travel destinations in Kerala and is well known for its amazing back waters and panoramic beauty. I have travelled through Alappuzha on a large number of occasions for various reasons. Even though Alappuzha as a whole is a beautiful travel destination, the one thing that’s needs to be changed immediately is the traffic system inside the city of Alappuzha.

Alappuzha town is somewhat old fashioned with old buildings and roads which make it look like an old city. Due to the old fashioned architecture of the city, the traffic inside the city becomes unbearable at some times. During the peak hours the traffic becomes so congested that we would never think of coming to Alappuzha ever again. The authorities have to think about a better plan which makes the traffic inside Alappuzha town smoother. Otherwise it would leave a bad impact on the tourists coming to Alappuzha from different parts of the World.

The outer areas of Alappuzha town do not experience this traffic congestion but the main city is a traffic hell. If the traffic system in Alappuzha is improved, it would certainly enhance the tourism potential of the city. Along with a good traffic system, cleanliness should also be improved as the city is below par in cleanliness and hygiene.

25 Hitech Ambulances for Alappuzha

In a move to strengthen the health zone of Alappuzha, the authorities have sanction 25 hitech ambulances which includes facilities such as ICU, ventilator, oxygen cylinders, automatic trolleys, stretchers and other life saving equipments. The services of these hitech ambulances can be availed 24 x 7 by dialing 108.

There had been a huge shortage of ambulances in Alappuzha town and the introduction of hi tech ambulances are seen as a measure to solve the shortages of the ambulances. Once 108 is dialed, the hitech ambulances would rush to the accident spot or any other destination to offer their help. There would always be a ambulance driver and a technician inside the ambulance and this makes things more easy.

The hitech ambulance is also expected to be much helpful for patients suffering from heart stroke as the ambulance has the most advanced equipments which can  serve the patients in a much better way. An hitech ambulance was allowed for alappuzha district one year back, but unfortunately the ambulance was later offered to some other districts, which led to huge protests.   

A new agency would be appointed to manage the operations of these hitech ambulances in Alappuzha and the health department authorities would be conducting a meeting in Trivandrum regarding the finalization of this. Hope that more hitech ambulances would be allotted to other districts in Kerala, which really needs such services.

Alappuzha All Set for the Traditional Boat Races

Alappuzha is well known for the array of boat races it conducts during a year and the boat races in Alappuzha are so famous that people from different regions comes here to view the amazing boat race. A wide variety of boats would be assembled on various backwater section in Alappuzha making an entire festive atmosphere. The boat races in Alappuzha has been there since a long time and it is a matter of pride for the locals to conduct these boat races successfully.

Some of the major boat race competition in Alappuzha include the Champakulam boat race, the Nehru Trophy Boat race at Punnamada lake, the Rajiv Gandhi Boat race at Pulinkunnu and the Kayamkulam boat race. Besides these there are many other small boat races in Alappuzha and most of these boat races are centered around the period of the traditional festival Onam.

The participants of the boat race spends months of valuable time in practicing and they consider it as a matter of pride to win these prestigious trophy. The "Vanchi Pattu", a peculiar folk song related to the boat races are also being practiced during the prepratory section. There are various boat clubs, who participate in these tournaments and they usually spend around 80 lakhs to 1 crore rupees as a part of the preparation and participation in these boat races.

Of all these boat races the Champakulam boat race is the oldest one and a number of well known boat clubs take part in this race. The second most popular is the Nehru Trophy boat race which takes place at the Punnamada lake and is very much popular in the international arena. This occurs during the second Saturday of August every year. The next Saturday Pulinkunnu would be hosting the Rajiv Gandhi boat race which is also a popular one. The fourth saturday of August would be the time for Kayamkulam boat race after that there is the Mamman Mappila boat race at Neerettupuram. The boat race season in Alappuzha comes to an end with the Pallana Kumarakodi boat race.

The boat races marks the arrival of the new tourist season in Alappuzha and as a results a lot of foreigners would be present there to watch this amazing boat races. The boat races in Alappuzha are a real treat to the eyes and the mood and spirit during these times would be electrifying.

Pathiramanal Island in Alappuzha

Pathiramanal is an amazing tourist spot in Alappuzha and is around 1.5 hours drive by a motor boat from Alappuzha. If you are taking a speed boat, then it would take only around 30 minutes to reach Pathiramanal. Pathiramanal is actually a small island on the backwaters of Alappuzha and is visited by a large number of tourist throughout the year.  A large number of rare and unique birds which migrate from other parts of the world are found at Pathiramanal.

The island is pretty beautiful in its appearance and is surrounded by the famous Vembanad lake, and the only mode of transport which helps you in getting to Pathiramanal is the boat services. The island is greenish in nature and is a perfect destination for those who wants to take a cool break and also for those who are interested in bird watching and similar activities.  Some of the major bird species that is found in Pathiramanal are e Pintail Ducks, Common Teal, Night Heron, Cormorant, Darter, Indian Shag, Purple Heron, gulls, terns, large egrets, Intermediate Egret, Cattle Egret, Indian Pond Heron, Little Egret etc.

The Pathiramanal island is actually situated between Kumarakom and Thaneermukkom and is located on the border of Kottayam and Alappuzha district. Since the island is surrounded by backwaters, you would be getting cool breeze throughout the day. The atmosphere here at Pathiramanal is very much calm and quiet and helps you to get relaxed and be free from the hassles of city life.

There are many resorts and hotels in and around Alappuzha where you can get a decent accommodation. The nearest railhead is at Alappuzha and the nearest airport is at Cochin.

Alappuzha Set to Celebrate its 250 th anniversary

Alappuzha is a little town in Kerala and is one of the most popular tourist destination in India, due to its unique landscape and scenic beauty. Alappuzha is also known as the 'Venice of the East' and tourist across the world visit this place to enjoy its amazing natural beauty.  This beautiful town will turn 250 next year  and the officials are planning to celebrate the 250th anniversary of Alappuzha town with some comprehensive makeover.

As a part of this the municipal authorities are planning to tackle the problems caused by monsoon in Alappuzha. As per the Alappuzha Municipality authorities various task forces have been constituted to make reports based on suggestions they get from the public, trade and business representatives, political parties and residents associations. These report would help them to tackle issues related to health, drinking water, sanitation and traffic.

The main agenda would be to make a "clean Alappuzha" by 2012 and this would mainly be based around a 6 point action plan. This would include the cleaning of the canals in the town, strengthening the solid waste disposal system in Alappuzha with the introduction of a method for waste segregation at the source itself, implementation of a special health package, total revamp of the drainage and sewage system with help from the IIT, Kharagpur, conservation of the Vembanad lake ecosystem and finally the completion of Alappuzha drinking water project.

The town of Alappuzha was found in 1762 by  Diwan Raja Kesavadas  and was also known as the commercial capital of the erstwhile State of Travancore. But in the course of time the city became more congested and the lack of proper planning made the matter more worse. Hope that 250th anniversary celebration of Alappuzha town, would help to solve most of the problems that is being faced by the beautiful town of Alappuzha.

Alappuzha District Police Turns Health Conscious

In a recent move by the Alappuzha district police, they have decided to give high priority to their health. Taking a leaf out of the recent reports on the health issues being caused by the over use of mobile phones, the Alappuzha district police have decided to reduce the usage of mobile phones among the police personnel in the district.

Alappuzha Superintendent of Police C H Nagaraju has instructed all his subordinates to avoid use of cell phones except in emergencies. He also instructed to use the facility of SMS to inform importance matters, rather than making a call on the mobile phone.  As per C H Nagaraju the police personnel were facing various health issues due to the over usage of mobile phones and this can be brought under control only by avoiding the usage of mobile phone for calling. Sending SMS does not do that much harm when compared to making a call on a mobile phone.

Hope that this move would improve the health conditions of the Alappuzha district police personnel and make them equipped to serve in a better health. This should not be just confined to the police personnel, rather everyone should try to learn to avoid using mobile phone every often. Even the common people can take this step by reducing the use of mobile phones and using only SMS in case of information transfer.

Police - Student Clash Leaves 31 Injured in Alappuzha

In a protest march taken out to the district collectorate of Alappuzha by the Students Federation of India (SFI) on Monday, a clash between the police and the students occured leaving 31 injured. The protest was done demanding the issues in the self-financing education sector be settled. Once the protest got aggressive police had to start lathi charge which was the main cause of the injuries. Both students and the police got injured during the fierce violence that erupted during the protest.

As per the Police the students started throwing stones at them when they tried to disperse the students. The students also attacked the police with sticks and in the course the violence 5 Police officials and 26 students got injured. SFI Alappuzha district joint secretary Sibi Varghese and SFI area secretary Mohammed Ashiq were among the students who got injured during the violence.

The police have arrested 25 students and produced them before the court,  while cases have been registered against 150 persons. The protest march, which started at 12 noon, turned violent when a group of  students tried to barge into the collectorate overcoming the police barricades. When they were stopped by the police, some of the students used sticks to attack the policemen. Once the police started the lathi charge, most of the students got canned and some of the students also tried to escape by entering the nearby shops. The fierce situation was lightened only after District Superintendent of Police C.H. Nagaraju reached the spot.

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