Chennai: To promote eco-tourism and develop pollution-free coast, the government’s plan to spend the RS100 Crore for the next five years to get prestigious Blue Flag certification for Marina and nine other beaches in the state.
Replying to the debate on demand for grants in assembly on Friday, Environment Minister Siva V Meyyanathan said as the first step the government had set a target to get certification for two beaches at 2021-22.
Blue Flag Certification is an internationally recognized ecolabel given by DenmarkBased NGO environmental education foundation for the coast that meets 33 criteria under four heads – quality, security, environmental education and information.
Beach Management Committee, Display Information about Beach and Bath Water Quality, public safety measures, sensitive regional management, environmental education, and marine monitoring and freshwater sensitive habitat is one of the criteria.
Apart from the marina, the government wants to tag for Manalmekudi and Kottaipattinam in Pudukottai Regency, Kushi in Ramanathapuram, silver beach in Cuddalore, Neelankarai in Chengalpet, Kameshwarram and Neithal Nagar in Nagapattinam, Naravakkam in Villupuram and Kayalpattinam in Tuticorin.
“The government will spend RS100 Crore, RS10 Crore for each beach, for programs in the next five years.
This program will be held through the Tourism Office, “Minister said.
As far as eight beaches in India, even though it’s not in Tamil Nadu, it has got a tag.
This is Kappad in Kerala, Kasarkod and Padubidri in Karnataka, Radha Nagar in Andaman, Rushikonda at Andhra Pradesh, Ghogkla in Diu, Shivrajpur in Gujarat and Golden Beach in Odisha.