Munroe Island (Malayalam : മണ്‍റോത്തുരുത്ത്) or Mundrothuruthu is an

inland Inland may refer to: Places Sweden * Inland Fräkne Hundred, a hundred of Bohuslän in Sweden * Inland Northern Hundred, a hundred of Bohuslän in Sweden * Inland Southern Hundred, a hundred of Bohuslän in Sweden * Inland Torpe Hundred, a hundred ...

island group An archipelago ( ), sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands, or sometimes a sea containing a small number of scattered islands. Examples of archipelagos include: the Indonesian Archi ...

located at the confluence of

Ashtamudi Lake Ashtamudi Lake (''Ashtamudi Kayal''), in the Kollam District of the Indian state of Kerala, is the most visited backwater and lake in the state. It possesses a unique wetland ecosystem and a large palm-shaped (also described as octopus-shaped) ...

and the

Kallada River Kallada River/Kulathupuzha " Puzha "means River.Its's the longest river in Kollam District, Kerala, India.The river originates in Kulathupuzha,a part of Western Ghats and flows west reaching Arabian Sea after travelling a distance of 120km. R ...

, in

Kollam district Kollam district (), (formerly Quilon district) is one of 14 List of districts in Kerala, districts of the state of Kerala, India. The district has a cross-section of Kerala's natural attributes; it is endowed with a long coastline, a major Lac ...

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

South India South India, also known as Dakshina Bharata or Peninsular India, consists of the peninsular southern part of India. It encompasses the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana, as well as the union territ ...

. It is a group of eight small islets comprising a total area of about 13.4 km². The island, accessible by road, rail and inland water navigation, is about from Kollam by road, north from Paravur, west from

Kundara Kundara is a census town in Kerala and is part of the Kollam Metropolitan Area, India. Kundara is situated 13 km east of Kollam city, 14 km west of Kottarakkara, and 24 km north of Paravur. Kundara is significant for its histor ...

and about from

Karunagapally Karunagappally is a municipality in the Kollam district of Kerala, India. It is 24 km north of Kollam and south of Alappuzha. Karunagappally taluk consists of Alappad, Ochira, Adinad, Karunagappally, Thazhava, Pavumba, Thodiyoor, Ka ...

. , the administrative village of Mundrothuruth (which includes nearby small villages as well) has a total population of 9599, consisting of 4636 males and 4963 females. This island is also known as "Sinking Island of Kerala" The place is named in honour of

Resident Resident may refer to: People and functions * Resident minister, a representative of a government in a foreign country * Resident (medicine), a stage of postgraduate medical training * Resident (pharmacy), a stage of postgraduate pharmaceuti ...

Colonel John Munro of the former Princely State of

Travancore The Kingdom of Travancore ( /ˈtrævənkɔːr/), also known as the Kingdom of Thiruvithamkoor, was an Indian kingdom from c. 1729 until 1949. It was ruled by the Travancore Royal Family from Padmanabhapuram, and later Thiruvananthapuram. At ...

. The islands measure in area.

History

In 1795 the British established their supremacy in South India and the princely state of

came under their governance. From 1800 onwards, a

was appointed by East India Company as administrative head of

. The first Resident was Colonel

Colin Macaulay Colin Macaulay (13 April 1760 – 20 February 1836), was a Scottish general, biblical scholar and key activist in the campaign to abolish slavery. Early life Macaulay was a son of the Rev. John Macaulay (1720–1789), minister in the Church of ...

, followed by Colonel John Munro. During his tenure Munro oversaw the land reclamation efforts in the delta where Kallada River joins Ashtamudi Lake and the reclaimed island was named after him as Munroe Island. The Dutch Church here in Munroe Island is one of the ancient churches in

. It was built by the Dutch in 1878. The red brick church is a blend of

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

architecture on the scenic banks of Lake Ashtamudi. The villagers depended on coconut coir manufacturing as livelihood, however, post Indian Ocean tsunami, things have changed.

Tourism

The island village is a tourism destination where one can see the

coir Coir (), also called coconut fibre, is a natural fibre extracted from the outer husk of coconut and used in products such as floor mats, doormats, brushes, and mattresses. Coir is the fibrous material found between the hard, internal shell an ...

retting process, coir weaving, fishing, prawns feeding, migratory bird watch, narrow canals and waterways, coconut farms on the lake shore, lagoons,

mangrove A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows in coastal saline or brackish water. The term is also used for tropical coastal vegetation consisting of such species. Mangroves are taxonomically diverse, as a result of convergent evolution in severa ...

plants and the beautiful tiny islands of Pathupara. Kallada Boat Race, which is one of the famous boat races in Kerala, is at Karuvathrakadavu- Muthiraparambu nettayam in Munroe Island.

Threat of Submergence

Low-lying areas of the Island are reportedly under a threat of submerging in high tides. In 2016, an expert team from the Thangal Kunju Musaliar College of Engineering, Kollam had started a study into the phenomena at the request of the Munroethuruthu

grama panchayat Gram Panchayat () is a basic village-governing institute in Indian villages. It is a democratic structure at the grass-roots level in India. It is a political institute, acting as cabinet of the village. The Gram Sabha work as the general bod ...

. The team headed by Prof. Gouri Antharjanam, Head, Department of Civil Engineering, visited the Island. Subsequently, geo-scientists from the

National Centre for Earth Science Studies The National Centre for Earth Science Studies(NCESS) (Malayalam: ദേശിയ ഭൗമ ശാസ്ത്ര പഠന കേന്ദ്രം) is an autonomous research centre to promote scientific and technological research and developmen ...

(NCESS) conducted a 2-year study from 2017-19. They used observations from the satellite microwave interferometric technique and from an array of local

GPS The Global Positioning System (GPS), originally Navstar GPS, is a satellite-based radionavigation system owned by the United States government and operated by the United States Space Force. It is one of the global navigation satellite sy ...

stations. They tentatively concluded that the Island is not subsiding. They found that only very heavy buildings that do not follow proper design standards have subsided up to . The double railway line, with up to 150 trains per day, and station platforms are also subsiding. The NCESS scientists found that a tide of at the coast translates to less than at Munroe Island. Hence,

global warming In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...

is also not a key problem. The island's population has been steadily declining due to an exodus of people unable to cope up with the living conditions. The death of Lance Naik B. Sudheesh of this island in the Border area at

Siachen Glacier The Siachen Glacier is a glacier located in the eastern Karakoram range in the Himalayas at about , just northeast of the point NJ9842 where the Line of Control between India and Pakistan ends. At long, it is the longest glacier in the Kar ...

spurred interest of the outer world in the problems of this place. Villagers fear subsiding of the land, and they suffer due to the lack of transport and other amenities. Land prices have fallen as they migrate elsewhere for better opportunities. The problems may have been exacerbated by the

Indian Ocean tsunami An earthquake and a tsunami, known as the Boxing Day Tsunami and, by the scientific community, the Sumatra–Andaman earthquake, occurred at 07:58:53 local time (UTC+7) on 26 December 2004, with an epicentre off the west coast of northern Suma ...

in 2004 that changed the backwater system and resulted in increased salinity of the soil.

Gallery

File:Munroe island.jpg, Munroe island in

File:Boat Canal Munroe Island Kerala Mar22 A7C 01452.jpg, Boating through the canals of Munroe Island File:MunroeIsland 1.JPG , A houseboat moves through Ashtamudi Lake. Munroe island in the background. File:Munroethuruthu Railway Station.jpg, Entrance of Munroturuttu railway station File:Train Munroe Island Kerala Mar22 A7C 01537.jpg, Express train passing through Munroe Island, Mar 2022

References

External links