Puri: The ‘Blue Flag’ beach in this town has been thrown open for the public. This beach has been developed in such a manner which would put Puri on the world tourist map very prominently.
Visitors basically from local areas visited the beach and expressed their satisfaction on seeing the facilities provided for them.
The 870-metre-long beach from Gandhi Ghat to the boundaries of a five-star hotel here has been identified as the pilot ‘Blue Flag’ beach by Society of Integrated Coastal Management (SICOM), an initiative by Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. There are fencing with plantations, safe bathing zone, ultra-modern toilets, sculptures, resting facilities, solar lighting arrangements, CCTV cameras, parking facility and other ancillary provisions.
To visit the ‘Blue Flag’ beach, one has to buy tickets. There are different types of tickets. By paying Rs 20, one can spend three hours inside the marked beach area. For the whole day, a local visitor has to pay Rs 50 while tourists from other states have to pay Rs 100.
Besides this, local people can have monthly tickets Rs 300. Most of the visitors Saturday availed of Rs 20 tickets.
PNN