Friday, April 13, 2012

Incredible Digha !

In Banga Bhavan, last Tuesday, I picked up a leaflet on Digha from the new Tourism Counter at the reception.It was published by West Bengal Tourism Department. I was quite amused to find inside that Chandaneswar was also listed along with Mandarmoni etc as places to visit. Chandaneswar, incidentally, is in Orissa - though only a few kilometres away from the Bengal Border.
Here is the brochure:
I took a cue from this yesterday evening. It was nearing 9 pm at Ud Department. Soumen (EO DSDA), Sudip & Chandana (ILFS) and I were discussing about the possible end points of the ropeway alignment. I was initially thinking of Bengal-Orissa Border (Udaipur Beach) and Digha Mohana via Digha Railway Station and Old Digha. But then, it occurred that Chandaneswar could be also brought into the alignment if the PPP partner wished.

8 comments:

  1. মহাশয়,
    নববর্ষের শুভেচ্চা ও প্রনাম নেবেন.
    জয়ন্ত

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  3. About the tourism initiatives, I have a few points to say and a few questions to ask:

    1. So when are we planning for the ropeway in Digha? When are we going ahead with the PPP partner? Are we planning to go ahead with some exciting water sports? Are we planning to make wide motorable roads all along the coastline connecting the beaches of Digha, Mandarmani and Tajpur, SankarPur? Also we need to increase the cleanliness of these places by washing the roads regularly, removing shanties as well as placing dustbins at regular intervals.

    2. What is the state of things for the walkway along Ganga? It seems even the proposed 1 KM walkway is not complete? If all along the Ganges, we can have a big wide beautiful pavement, with restaurant, clubs, pubs, eateries...etc....it will be a big draw for tourists. This is how Thames walkway is .

    3. Sir, you can take a look at how "NYC & Company" does promotion of New York Tourism. West Bengal tourism needs to open offices all across the globe, put advertisements in the leading travel magazines and channels to attract tourism. You can take a look at the website of "NYC & Company". http://www.nycgo.com/ and also at the following wikipedia link. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tourism_in_New_York_City

    According to the wiki link,
    Spearheading the city's tourism efforts is NYC & Company, the city's official convention and visitor bureau currently headed by George Fertitta. It has offices in 14 countries, including Argentina, Britain, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, The Netherlands, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Japan, Korea and China.[8] NYC & Company is the official source of tourism statistics for the city. The research department develops and distributes comprehensive information on NYC domestic and international visitor statistics and monitors the travel industry's impact on New York City's economy. The department also produces 14 official New York City tourism marketing publications that feature information on member hotels, museums, attractions, theaters, stores, restaurants, meeting venues, and service providers.

    4. We need to remove the curfew that is affecting Kolkata nightlife. This does not happen in any civilized society. If night is only for sleeping, then why are we allowing call centres to operate in the night? This has given Kolkata a real bad name. Plus how can the cash-strapped Govt afford to loose existing revenue stream?

    5. What is the state of things with Howrah Eye?

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    Replies
    1. I totally have the same questions...!
      Its us who have to decide where Indian Bengal will be after say 20 years, if things dont change rapidly now then we will be lagging far behing Mumbai-Bangalore-DElhi.. !

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  4. @Abhishek: Lots of questions ! Will respond to some in phases :)
    @Saurav: Yes, we have miles to go before we sleep

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  5. Sir,

    I know I have asked many questions and I know the Govt is short of money and the steps will take time.

    I have a few simple suggestions for making the state a better place and for increasing revenue manifold.

    1. Remove the night curfew and allow the night clubs to operate till 4 am in the morning. This will automatically increase revenue to a huge extent. Allow more nightclubs and pubs in different tier-2 cities also and make the application process much simpler.

    2. Among all the major cities, I have seen Kolkata Police being least vigilant about drunken driving and breaking signals. We can collect handsome fine from there also. Its a law enforcement question.

    3. Lets have dustbins at regular intervals along the roads throughout the state; not only in KOlkata. Lets fine people who does not throw the garbage in the dustbin. With time, people will learn to comply, cities will be cleaner and Govt will also collect revenue.

    4. Lets force more people to obey traffic rules like crossing at signals through zebra crossing etc. This can also be enforced through law and fine .

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