Tourism Minster Anand Singh said that Rs. 2 crore each would be spent on the construction of jetties at Malpe and St. Mary’s Island.
Mr. Singh was visiting Malpe tourism jetty, Malpe beach, and the Heritage Village in Manipal.
The existing Malpe beach was small and could not accommodate all the tourists. The district administration had submitted a proposal to get a Rs. 2 crore grant for the expansion of the beach. “We will decide on it soon”, he said.
A statue of Sri Madhwacharya, founder of Dwaita philosophy, would be installed at the Malpe beach close to Sri Vadabhandeshwara Temple so that the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) norms could be adhered to.
The Heritage Village authorities in Manipal had sought 40 cents of land. The Principal Secretary in the Department of Tourism Lata Krishna Rao and Udupi Deputy Commissioner M.T. Reju would jointly decide on providing 40 cents of land close to Heritage Village in the next 15 to 20 days. “The granting of this land would provide a direct entrance and a parking space to the Heritage Village,” he said.
The department would consider the proposal for developing the Mannu Pala lake in Manipal at a cost of Rs. 2 crore.
Regarding the delayed construction of “Anna Brahma” dinning hall, he said: “We will enquire as to why the Anna Brahma dinning hall constructed at the Sri Krishna Math in Udupi at a cost of Rs. 1 crore with funds from the Tourism Department is not being used.”
A proposal had been made for the construction of a hanging Bridge at Tanneer Bhavi in Dakshina Kannada district. Mr. Singh said he would inspect the spot and then decide on it after consulting the officials.
Detailed Project Reports (DPRs) for promoting tourism in the coastal districts of the State had been sent to the Union Government. He had spoken to the Union Minister for Tourism Subodh Kant Sahay at Bekal in Kerala recently. Mr. Sahay had assured him that he would release the money immediately. “We expect the Union Government to release Rs. 50 crore for the DPRs submitted by us,” Mr. Singh said.
90 lakh for boat house
Earlier presiding over a review meeting of the Tourism Department, Mr. Singh said Rs. 90 lakh had been released for the construction of a boat house on Malpe beach.
Mr. Singh said his department would release additional funds for the boat house shortly.
About Rs. 55 lakh had been released for the construction of a bridge, parking lot, and interlock tiles to develop the Light House on Kaup beach as a major tourist spot. These works on the Kaup beach would start shortly, he said.
Deputy Commissioner M.T. Reju said the work of setting up interlock tiles around the Manna Palla lake in Manipal had been taken up with funds from the Legislators’ Local Area Development Fund. But funds had not been received from the Tourism Department for this work, he said.
Lata Krishna Rao, Principal Secretary of the Department; G. Satyavati, Director in the Department, Anu Reddy, Managing Director of Jungle Lodges and Resorts, and Devaiah, Managing Director of Karnataka State Tourism Development Corporation; Kumar, Additional Deputy Commissioner, were present.
Mr. Singh also laid the foundation stone for a “Yatri Nivas” near the Sri Krishna Math/Temple here. The Yatri Nivas would come up in 44 cents of land. It would be constructed at a cost of Rs. 4 crore within a year.
