SEA, SAND AND SUN: A file photo of the St. Mary's Island in Udupi district.

Udupi: Deputy Commissioner V. Ponnuraj said on Thursday that a Tourism Development Task Force would be constituted to promote tourism in Udupi district.

Addressing presspersons here, Mr. Ponnuraj said that the task force would comprise officials and non-officials.

The aim was to maintain continuity in tourism development programmes.

It has been estimated that only 40 per cent of tourists visiting the State visited Udupi district.

A majority of these tourists visited only pilgrim centres.

The task force would aim at exploiting tourism in the fields of beaches, recreation, adventure sports, health, and archaeology.

The Government has been giving importance to public-private partnership in tourism. One such project was coming up at Marvanthe in the district.

The district administration aims at promoting public-private partnership projects at Malpe and Othenene.

The Government has made it clear that public-private partnership projects can be set up on government land.

CMZ

To a question, he said the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) norms were a sort of hindrance to promoting tourism.

But the Government is shortly expected to come up with Coastal Management Zone (CMZ), which would facilitate tourism.

Under the CMZ, local bodies would be allowed to identify tourist spots. The draft notification of CMZ was ready.

Kalagram

Mr. Ponnuraj said Rs. 10 lakhs has been allotted for the development of Shivaram Karanth Kalagram on the Manipal-Alevoor Road.

A sum of Rs. 14.5 lakh has been sanctioned for the development of the Manna Palla Lake in Manipal. An action plan for the development of this lake would be finalised shortly.

Water cannot be retained at the Manna Palla Lake owing to removal of clay, which was supplied to tile factories.

It was necessary to put clay again in the lake to improve its water retention capacity.

This would require up to Rs. 1 crore. Secretary for Urban Development, who visited Udupi on Wednesday, had promised help in this regard.

The fencing work for the Nagarjuna Power Project would continue according to the order of the Government, he said.

Prohibitory order

Prohibitory order under Section 144 in Yellur and surrounding villages would be in force till January 15.

There was no bar to the "rasta roko" which the anti-Nagarjuna organisations wanted to hold on January 13. But any attempt to disrupt law and order would not be allowed, Mr. Ponnuraj said.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail