While the Indian government is boosting its tourism prowess, particularly with a focus on Lakshadweep, the existing tourism sites seem to be lagging behind in terms of hygiene.?
In a video that has embarrassed Kerala's tourism department, a group of foreign tourists were seen cleaning garbage from the historic Fort Kochi beach at Kerala.?
In the video, the foreign tourists - Russian women - were collecting garbage strewn around the beach and disposing the same in black bags.?
The video shows a ton of black garbage bags deposited on the side.?
Further compounding the embarrassment, the tourists left a message on the bags, encouraging locals to "purify your life, gather litter, fill a pocket with it, and dispose of it by burning or burying."?
The Russian team were helping a group of NRI tourists who were being led by C Satheesh, the President of the All Kerala Tour Guides Association.?
One angry social media user claimed, "Indians are dirty, filthy. Go to any temple, you'll see filth. Quite a pleasant surprise if you visit a Buddhist monastery. We have "othered" everyone, so we clean our own houses and dump garbage on "them". It's part of our culture and tradition."?
Another stated, "Shameful!! Fed up with the uncleanness at Fort Kochi Beach, a group of Tourists from Russia started cleaning the beach themselves.?A local person helped them to buy the garbage bags but the local councilor declined to remove even the filled bags!"?
Apparently, it is the Cochin Heritage Conservation Society that was appointed for carrying out the beach cleaning.?
In response to this incident, the Tourism Department has requested a report from its officials to assess the current condition of the beach.? ?
For more on news and current affairs from around the world please visit?Indiatimes News.