Tourism minister wants CRZ relaxed for Karnataka

Tourism Minister R V Deshpande on Monday said that Union government and the Tourism ministry had accepted the recommendations made by Swaminathan Committee on relaxation of Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ).

Addressing a press meet after inaugurating the exhibition centre of the 38th Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) Travel Mart, 2015, at Bangalore International Exhibition Centre, the minister said that beach resorts were being allowed in a radius of 50-100 metres of the seas in other states and nations whereas no such construction was allowed within 500-metre radius in Karnataka.

“We have 90 beaches along the 320-km coastline, but have identified only 44 beaches and four islands for tourism purposes,”  the minister said.

Deshpande said that Karnataka falls under CRZ-3 (meaning a no-development zone and all projects need approval from the Union Minister of Environment and Forest) which was a challenge before the State government. He appealed to Union Minister of Chemicals and Fertilisers H N Ananth Kumar, who was present on the occasion, to take up the matter with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar and help in boosting coastal tourism in Karnataka.

Kumar said that he would rise the issue with the government and added that the Centre had launched “Project Mausam” which involves Karnataka also. The project proposes to establish cross-cultural linkages and revival of historic, cultural and economic ties with 39 Indian Ocean countries. Karnataka is a part of Sagarmala programme where the whole Indian coastline was getting lit and developed.

Kumar further said the Central government had set aside Rs 100 crore for first phase of Hriday-National Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana. This is a major infrastructure project and covers Varanasi, Amritsar, Ajmer, Mathura, Gaya, Kanchipuram, Velankanni, Badami, Amravati, Warangal, Puri and Dwarka.

The second major infrastructure project is Prasad, or Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spiritual Augmentation Drive. This was being undertaken at a cost of Rs 100 crore. Besides, the department was also creating Coastal, Heritage, Buddhist and Himalayan circuits. On the lines of Rama Circuit, the government will be creating a Krishna circuit, he said.

Online visa
Online visa application processing and monitoring (IVFRT) is being implemented across the world and in India also.

This has global outreach as it includes 177 missions, 81 immigration check posts, 14 Foreigner Regional Registration Offices and 761 Foreigner Registration Offices in the state and district headquarters. This has been implemented in 160
Indian missions and 250 FROs in the last one year, Kumar added.

PATA Chairman Kevin Murphy said that India has to ease visa procedures to attract more international tourists.