India to convert ten beaches into 'Blue Flag Beaches', one from Udupi also in the list; Here's what 'Blue Flag Beaches' mean

Bhatkallys News Bureau Udupi 31 Jan 2018: The Union Environment Ministry has planned to convert India's 10 popular sea beaches into international quality 'Blue Flag Destination' in order to ensure safety and cleanliness of these beaches. Among these 10 beaches, Padukere beach located near Malpe of Udupi has been selected as one of the 10 beaches. The Blue Flag is a certification by the Foundation for Environmental Education to ensure following a set of stringent standards to clean up the popular seaside destinations. None of the Indian beaches carry this certification, while Spain has 578 Blue Flag beaches. Upon selecting one of the beach from Karnataka, Tourism Director Manjula of Karnataka welcomed the decision. These ten beaches are being taken up as demonstration projects. Once they are cleaned up, 90 more beaches would be turned into Blue Flag zones. The developmental activities along the beach would include the creation of toilets and proper management of the waste material generated by tourists.