Two new Indian beaches from Lakshadweep receive 'Blue Flag' certification

Two beaches from Lakshadweep — Minicoy Thundi Beach and Kadmat Beach — were added to the list of ‘Blue Beaches’ by the Foundation for Environment Education (FEE), the government announced on Wednesday. 

“Minicoy Thundi Beach and Kadmat Beach are the proud entrants in the coveted list of ‘Blue Beaches’, an eco-label given to the cleanest beaches in the world,” Bhupender Yadav, Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) said. 

With the new additions, India now has 12 beaches certified under the Blue Flag Certification. Last time it was in September 2021 when Kovalam Beach in Tamil Nadu and Eden Beach in Puducherry made it to the list. 

Apart from these Ghoghla Beach in Diu, Golden Beach in Odisha, Kappad Beach in Kerala, Kasarkod Beach in Karnataka, Padubidri Beach in Karnataka, Radhanagar Beach in Andaman and Nicobar, Rushikonda Beach in Andhra Pradesh, Shivrajpur Beach in Gujarat are also ‘Blue Beaches’.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi also congratulated the people of Lakshadweep for the achievement. 

He tweeted, “This is great! Congratulations, particularly to the people of Lakshadweep, for this feat. India’s coastline is remarkable and there is also a great amount of passion among our people to further coastal cleanliness." 

The certification is awarded to beaches, marinas (which are small ports or harbours designed for pleasure yachts or boats) and sustainable boat tourism operators in FEE member countries after they fulfil 33 criteria related to environment, education, access and safety. 

As per the Blue Flag website data, a total of 5042 sites are awarded certificates across 48 countries. 

Spain with 729 sites tops the list of countries with Blue Flag awarded sites. It is followed by Greece and Turkey with 591 and 560 sites respectively. 

India is placed at 36 spots, as per the data available on Blue Flag website.