Sagar to come of age with beaches, yachts

SAGAR ISLAND (South 24-Parganas): They were always there. But on Thursday, three beaches in South 24-Parganas got a name each as chief minister Mamata Banerjee landed in Sagar Island with a retinue of industrialists and top bureaucrats to shift work on the tourism circuit to top gear.
The virgin beaches — spread over 20km at Sagar — were christened as Bhor Sagar, Dheu Sagar and Rup Sagar by the chief minister.The beaches, which will be an added attraction in the Sagar Island-Jharkhali-Sajnekhali-Bakkhali-Frazerganj-Hatania-Doania tourism circuit, will soon have facilities like tent stays and luxury yacht cruise.
The proposed high-end circuit, which is meant to attract tourists from abroad as well, is being developed jointly by the Centre and the state at an estimated Rs 12,000 crore budget. Around 20 cottages have already come up at Sagar.
However, the circuit will not come in the way of the Sagar mela, a senior government official said on Thursday. In fact, it will have even better facilities by the time the circuit comes into existence. The Kapil Muni temple, for instance, has been already been renovated. On Thursday, Mamata inaugurated a new guest house attached to it.
During her day-long trip, Mamata on Thursday inaugurated six coastal police stations to throw a security cover for tourists. “Security is important since we are looking at foreign tourists. We expect the new police stations to address security issues at the earliest,” said the chief minister. The police stations are located at Sagar, Junput, Parulia and Jharkhali in South 24-Parganas. The other two are at Gobordhanpur and Telpalighat in West Midnapore.
The tourism circuit is not going to affect fishing in the island either, Mamata assured. “Fishermen have nothing to fear. We shall have a separate fishing zone for them. That area will be inaccessible for tourists. Fishing ports will be overhauled. The government will issue identity cards to fishermen so that they are not harassed by coast guards or detained in Bangladesh,” she added.
A task force has been formed to hasten the development of the tourism circuit. It is headed by transport secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay and has the secretaries of the tourism, finance and forest departments as members. The functioning of the committee is being monitored by the chief secretary.
Inaugurating the guest house at the Kapil Muni temple, Mamata said: “Sagar always had the potential to be developed as a major tourist attraction. But the previous government did nothing for 34 years. We have brought electricity, re-laid roads and created employment opportunities by developing tourism.”
Locals have been offered help to re-design their vessels so that they can serve tourists, according to transport secretary Alapan Bandopadhyay. “We hope to be able to get the circuit up and running by the time the next tourist season starts in August-September. We have also identified 100 acres in Jharkhali. It will be used to set up hotels for tourists,” he said.
Industrialists and senior bureaucrats who accompanied the CM on Thursday included Ravi Poddar, Vijay Dewan, Harshvardhan Patodia, Sanjay Budhia, Rudra Chatterjee, K Bhalla, RR Modi, Mayank Jalan and chief secretary Sanjoy Mitra, among others.