Recently the central government had announced the takeover of the five islands in Goa for the holistic development and now government of Goa has decided to take over the Grande Island for the purpose of tourism development in the state.
According to the available information from the reliable sources, the government of Goa is in the process of taking over the Grande Island for the purpose of development of the tourism activities. Tourism Minister Dilip Parulekar has supported this statement saying that they have initiated the talks with former Chief Minister and present defence minister Manohar Parrikar on the takeover of the island near Vasco for tourism developments.
Parulekar was talking to the media people while laying the foundation stone for the beatification of Baina beach. According to Parulekar, part of this island belongs to Indian Navy and the rest of it to the state government. “We have already informed the defence minister about the plans of tourism ministry on taking over this island in order to attract quality tourists to Goa,” said Parulekar.
Surprisingly this is the second instance of beautification of Baina beach which has been taken over in the tenure of BJP government. According to the sources, the similar project was inaugurated in 2012 by then CM of Goa Manohar Parrikar which Parulekar is apparently not aware of, but the local MLA Almeida has claimed that the project has got delayed due to some hurdles like getting the clarification from the centre.
According to the sources, the beautification process of Baina will be done in three stages. The first phase of development will include the beautification about 1.2km of Baina beach which will be taken up for the development that will be completed by June 2017 spending whopping 2.24 crore. GTDC is supporting the development of this project. Mr. Milind Naik who was also present at this occasion said that they will make sure that the development process will not affect the fishing community of Baina and Desterro.
The development of Grande Island may turn out to be a major milestone in tourism development in the state as the success of this project will lead to further development of other such properties in Goa. Tourists are getting away from beach destinations due to saturation and CRZ restrictions but the development of island may lead into providing attractive alternatives to the tourists. Let’s wait and watch as how things move in future, meanwhile, you leave your comments and suggestions on this issue.
Source: Various Sources
