Mamta's move to convert Digha into Goa
HINDUSTAN TIMES/DIGH, W BENGAL | 13 August 2013 22:23 IST
Digha beach in West Bengal
Keen to make good the chief minister’s pledge to turn Digha into Goa, the development body has reportedly mobilised a host of projects to lend more thrust to the beautification drive of the popular tourist haunt.
The Mamata government has sanctioned plans to build more roads by the sea in a bid to facilitate movement of tourists during the course of their stay in Digha.
In addition to building more roads to aid the movement of tourists and commuters, beautify the beachfront to draw more visitors and install more lights to ensure safety of beach-hoppers, the state government has further proposed to build a gateway over a few kilometres on the Digha beach.
The proposed gateway to welcome tourists would likely come up at Ghersai on Digha Kolkata road and would be about 22 metres high.
“The (proposed) gateway is part of the ongoing beautification process and would help draw more visitors when it’s done.
We have already drawn up a tentative design of the gate and will soon invite tenders for the project,” Soumen Pal, the chief executive officer of the DSDA, told HT.
In line with the chief minister’s Goa dream, Digha recently played host to a festival, drawing visitors from across the country and overseas.
The event had been used to hard sell Digha as a top tourist draw.
However, a significant section of the beach has since been damaged on account of erosion, prompting the chief minister to direct the local administration to set up an embankment to check erosion and mobilise additional measures to ramp up the ongoing beautification effort and keep the beach clean.
With more buses and trains plying to Digha, the tourist traffic has lately registered a sharp, northward trend.
The development body too has unshipped a host of measures lately to ensure the tourists enjoy their stay and take back sweet memories of the coastal haunt.
It has proposed to line the coast with boulders of granite in a way reminiscent of the Marine Drive of Mumbai.
The effort is primarily aimed at affording a space for tourists to sit and take in the beach ambience.
