KOCHI: Lovers of Fort Kochi-Mattancherry area are peeved at Union Finance Minister Nirmala Seetharaman excluding the area from the iconic status while giving the same to Kumarakom which evolved as a tourist spot only recently.
They say that Fort Kochi-Mattancherry is eminently suited for UNESCO World Heritage Site as well. The MPs and others need to take up the cause with right vigour, they demand.
Fort Kochi Heritage Coservation Society member and former mayor K.J. Sohan said that the tag came Kumarakom way since the same was proposed by former union tourism minister Alphons Kann-anthanam. “However Fort Kochi which established cosmopolitanism with the introduction of spice trade way back in 15th century and successfully upheld the same ever since, has a greater claim for the icon tag. The area has presence of members of nearly 30 communities while there are settlements of 15 communities and their places of worship as well in the area,” he said.
Jose Dominic, founder-president, Kerala Travel Mart, and co-founder CGH Earth, said that he had expressed the view of promoting Fort Kochi-Mattancherry areas as icon destination to Alphons Kannamthanam when he was tourism minister. “I had told him that Fort Kochi-Mattancherry ranked higher in merit to be selected as an iconic site, and there is the possibility of obtaining UNESCO World Heritage Site status for Mattancherry-Fort Kochi. In fact campaigns to secure both statuses should go on unabated given the area’s unique living cultural heritage status concurrently with its strategic role as gateway to the Kerala destination and it being the venue of the globally acknowledged Kochi Muziris Biennale,” said Jose Dominic.
“The 3-km radius area of Fort Kochi-Mattancherry has presence of different communities including Gujaratis, Jains, Marathis, Jews, Kutchi-Memons, Pathans, Anglo-Indians, Bengalis and others. In fact Fort Kochi is the gateway to tourism in Kerala where tourists started arriving 2000 years ago. Here lies the church where Vasco Da Gama was first interred. The oldest Synagogue in British Commonwealth lies here,” said Rajesh P R, a central government- approved tourist guide.
“If the iconic status comes its way, the Chinese fishing nets can be preserved, the roads can be bettered, and the whole place can be beautified by tackling the waste menace as well, using more Central funds. The Fort Kochi beach also demands better maintenance. The area should be preserved the way the Galle Fort is preserved by Sri Lanka,” said Rajesh.
