Kumbalangy 3.8

Kumbalangy is a suburb of the city of Kochi, in the state of Kerala, India, located in the district of Ernakulam.Location and geographyKumbalangy is an island-village on the outskirts of Cochin city. The village is 16 km2 in area. Kumbalangy is 15 km. from the South Railway Station and 45 km. from the Kochi International Airport.Population and economyNearly 1,00,000 people live in the village. The main occupation in Kumbalangy is fishing, and there are over 100 Chinese nets in the backwaters that face the village. Groves of mangroves separate land from water providing a breeding ground for prawns, crabs, oysters and small fishes. It is home to fishermen, farmers, labourers, toddy tappers and coir spinners.An occupation that's seen quite a revival is that of boatmen. The village is well connected by road to the mainland, and the local community did not patronize them very much. However, tourists are keen on cruises. Fisher folk and boatmen also demonstrate various fishing techniques for the tourists.Model tourism villageIn 2003 Kerala government selected several Indian villages as model villages. The Kumbalangy Integrated Tourism Village project is meant to transform the tiny island into a model fishing village and tourism spot. The panchayat (village council) - with financial assistance from the state government - is implementing the project."The Kumbalangy project was set in motion in 2003 to help the local people, the economy and the locality through tourism," says M C Sivadathan, President of the Kumbalangy panchayat. "And in order to achieve this, we have done away with many concepts typical of tourism elsewhere. Our idea is to create job opportunities for the villagers, while also ensuring that tourists have a good time seeing and experiencing real village life,'' he explains.