Efforts are on to provide to amenities at Padukere beach in order to make it a popular tourist destination. more-in You could well be sipping cool tender coconut water under an eco-friendly gazebo by April at Padukere beach here. With the district administration and Department of Tourism giving priority to the development of this beach, which has so far remained untapped and under the shadows of the famous Malpe beach, it is now on its way to come into its own. The construction of the Malpe-Padukere Bridge last year opened the windows for this development. It is also become necessary as there is lesser scope for further development of the Malpe beach. Accordingly, a plan was drawn to improve connectivity and provide basic amenities at the Padukere beach. As per this, a 430 m long road is being constructed to provide connectivity to this beach. The construction of this road is expected to be completed in March. Besides this, as many as 10 granite benches will be installed and six gazebos will be constructed on the beach for visitors. A toilet complex too has been planned. All three works – that will cost ?76.85 lakh – are being executed by the Karnataka Rural Infrastructure Development Ltd. (KRIDL). “The gazebos will be built with eco-friendly material. They will have thatched roofs of high quality material to bear the impact of the rains,” Krishna Hebsur, Executive Engineer, KRIDL, told The Hindu. But the construction of the toilet complex would be cleared at a meeting later because of the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) norms. “The installation of the granite benches would begin in a week. Soon after, the gazebos will be constructed. All the works will be completed by March,” Mr. Hebsur said. Meanwhile, efforts are on to get Blue Flag certification for Padukere beach. The certification is given by the Foundation for Environmental Education for a beach maintaining high standards for water quality, safety, environmental education, provision of services and general environmental management criteria. A team from Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) had visited the beach a month ago with regard to the certification. “We are expecting to hear from the MoEF soon. If the beach gets the certification, it will start attracting tourists from other countries,” said Wilfred D’Souza, Assistant Director of Tourism. Priyanka Mary Francis, Deputy Commissioner, said the idea behind developing the beach was to attract tourists to it and also provide employment to the locals.

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