Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday urged the hotel owners' association in Digha to check the arbitrary increase of rents especially during the peak season as it often poses as a deterrent for tourists.
During an administrative meeting at Digha on Wednesday, Banerjee instructed the District Magistrate of East Midnapore, Rashmi Kamal, to take up the issue with the hotel owners' association so that a uniformed policy may be put in place and the hotels abide by it.
"The hotel owners must not arbitrarily charge the tourists with hefty rents, especially during the peak season. If any hotel indulges in this practice it tarnishes the image of the entire business fraternity. The hotel owners must remember that their business is not for one day," Banerjee explained.
The Chief Minister also instructed the district administration of East Midnapore to take up a number of initiatives to make Digha a better place for tourists. Banerjee pointed out that the sea beach and its surrounding areas must be kept clean and tidy. She asked the senior administrative officials to engage 100 days' works in this initiative.
The security of the tourists visiting the sea beach must be top priority as a huge number of people have been visiting the Digha sea beach over the years. The Chief Minister, during her speech, laid an emphasis on the increase of nulias (local divers) who often save people from being swept away by the currents while taking a bath in the sea. She also instructed senior police officers in the district to deploy more number of police personnel on the beach to check untoward incidents.
Banerjee asked the district administration to ensure that tourists do not face problems at Digha. She also urged the people to be cautious while bathing in the sea. With Digha getting a major infrastructural revamp by the Mamata Banerjee-government, the place has seen more footfall. Considering the steady growth in the number of tourists, the Chief Minister also stressed on the importance of setting up more number of hotels in the area.
Digha has always been a thrust area of the Chief Minister who had taken up a host of developmental projects in the area virtually transforming it into a far better tourist destination than it had been during the tenure of the Left Front government.
Beautification drives have also been taken up at Digha. The present government also introduced helicopter services between Kolkata and Digha.