Digha getting decked up for Chief Minister’s visit

The administration is busy completing the final touch of beautification at Digha before Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s district visit. The Chief Minister is likely to come at the beach city for an administrative meeting in December.

The district administration is gearing up for the event and is laying no stone unturned to deck up the city from every angle. On Friday, illegal shanties were evacuated from different portions of Digha and New Digha.

During the meeting which was held at the Digha Shankarpur Development Authority (DSDA) office recently, the officials discussed over the illegal construction alongside the beach which is causing major threat to ecology.

The administration will take possible action against such menace since it would spoil the atmosphere in Digha and adjoining areas. Various development and beautification projects were also discussed at the meeting.

However, state government is also preparing a sketch to set up a 30-km long ‘Marine Drive’ from Contai to Digha.

It will be a shorter route from Contai to Digha that will reduce the distance by 5 km. From Contai, the road will move through Mandarmani and Tajpur and end at Digha. The Marine Drive plan was conceptualised last year after the Chief Minister proposed it.

The Irrigation department has already spent about Rs 86 crore for development projects along the sea coast — from Old Digha to the Bengal-Odisha border in Udaypur. The entire coast line has been concretised to prevent soil erosion. Sewer lines have been revamped and further beautification work will be taken up. Two lighthouses have also been set up.

The Digha Shankarpur Development Authority is already working on a number of projects to develop the coastal areas of Digha, Mandarmani, Shankarpur and Tajpur.

The local police and the civil workers will make joint visits to identify places for parking lots along Foreshore Road. It has been decided that the area near Shivalik Road would be made a no-parking and no-halt zone.