Padubidri beach gets ‘Blue Flag Certificate’ from Centre
Udupi, August 01: The Ministry of Environment and Forest of the Central government has officially declared ‘Blue Flag Certificate’ recognition to the Padubidri beach in the district.
In a statement, deputy commissioner Priyanka Mary Francis and Tourism department assistant director Anitha Bhaskar said that under this programme, it was planned to develop beaches with clean environment and quality water in 13 states which have sea shores, in association with the Society for Integrated Coastal Management (SICOM), Ministry of Environment and Forest, Beach Management Services (BMS). The clean sea shore would decide the healthy tourism and better economic index, they said.
In view of this, the central government has decided to bring sustainable tourism and healthy coastal sea shores under Blue Flag Certificate programme and implement international standard projects, it is said.
Boost for sustainable tourism
The main objective of the Beach Management Services is to encourage the sustainable tourism at Padubidri beach by managing the cleanliness, environmental education and creating awareness to local people, improving quality of water, safety measures, maintenance of security system and sea shore. Along with these factors, priority would also be given to bio-diversity, environment protection, effective solid waste management, basic infrastructure and introducing local food culture and lifestyle to the tourists under this programme, they said.
Sustainable tourism would be encouraged by giving environmental education to the local people, training, campaigning on home stays and others. The programme is being implemented with the help of the district administration, tourism department and local stakeholders. By 2018, it was planned to develop the beach as a quality beach with the help of Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE) of Denmark and people could plan for their holidays.
As per the estimation, Blue Flag Certificate beaches would have annual turnover of over Rs 100 crore. So, it would help the Padubidri beach to make its presence in the international level and attract tourists, they said.
Padubidri beach end point
With the help of this international level project, within 500 mts radius of Padubidri beach endpoint, bio toilets, cloth changing rooms, bath rooms, name boards, jogging track, outdoor gym and children’s play area could be developed. To avoid the usage of plastic water bottle, pure drinking water units, solid waste processing and reuse, dust bins, seating arrangements, wheel chair facility for physically disabled, solar power usage, umbrellas, chairs, CCTV vigilance for round-the-clock, watching tower would be provided. All these works would be taken up at a cost of Rs 8 crore and A to Z Infra Services Private Limited of Gurugrama, selected by the central government, would develop the infrastructure. Along with the basic infrastructure development, the company would take care of the maintenance of the beach for next two years, they said.
Blue Flag recognition
As the Padubidri beach has got the Blue Flag recognition, international tourists would visit the beach. Former minister Pramod Madhwaraj had tried to get this recognition for Padukere beach near Malpe.
Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE) would give Blue Flag recognition for international standard beaches. More than 60 countries including Europe, Africa, Asia, North America, South America and others have got the membership of FEE. Such beaches are the favourite spots for foreign tourists.
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Govt caught napping, seems under US pressure to sacrifice Indian interests: Pilot on tariffs
New Delhi (PTI): In a scathing attack on the government over the imposition of tariffs by the US, Congress general secretary Sachin Pilot on Sunday said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi should have worked out a constructive solution during his last America visit rather than just indulging in "photo ops" and exchanging gifts.
He said that at a time the world is responding to the imposition of reciprocal tariffs by the US, the Indian government is merely buying time and leaving everything to fate.
In an interview to PTI, the former minister for Corporate Affairs said the Indian government is accepting what has been given out and has not even offered a response.
"I would imagine, when the PM was in Washington (in February) and met the president of the US, instead of just photo ops and exchanging gifts, something more constructive should have come out of it," Pilot said.
"If our relations are as strong as the two leaders claim, then we would not have been slapped with these steep tariffs. Clearly our exports will be severely hit, manufacturing was in any way on a downside, MSMEs are in for a shock...The economy will face severe stress due to resulting layoffs and job losses but unfortunately we have not had an adequate response or even an indication of how to navigate this situation." he said.
The government was caught napping and it seems under US pressure to sacrifice Indian interests, he alleged.
Pilot pointed out that many European countries have responded strongly and in fact, China will legally take action against the US in the WTO.
While European countries have spoken of similar tariffs, Canada and Mexico have also indicated reciprocal imposition of higher counter tariffs but "we have not responded yet", Pilot said.
"So one does not know what the government intends to do but one thing is clear that these trade wars are going to pose a huge problem whether it is inflation, manufacturing, productivity, transfer of technology- all will be impacted but despite Parliament being in session, we have not seen an adequate response or assurance from the Indian government on how it will protect indian interests. And this silence is adding to the uncertainty," the Congress leader said.
Calling for a proper strategy to deal with the issue, Pilot said if the tariff proposal was in the pipeline, the Indian government should have communicated and dealt with it in a much more strategic manner than it has.
"We are just basically accepting what has been given out and while the whole world is reacting, we are yet to respond ," he said.
Noting that India is now a more interconnected economy around the world, he said the US move will have an impact on India especially at a time when there is "record unemployment" since Independence.
"Our national debt burden has increased exponentially and while our economy is growing the rich-poor divide is at historic levels. A large portion of our labour force is engaged in trade and export related manufacturing and millions of those jobs are facing uncertainty, and yet the government has not come out with any creative ideas on how to tackle the consequences of these tariff wars," Pilot said.
He said it was difficult to predict what exactly the outcomes of the US imposed tariffs would be but asserted that the Indian government should have been better prepared knowing this was coming.
India being a strategic partner of the US has not yielded any benefits at least as far as the current economic scenario is concerned, Pilot added.
The US has announced 27 per cent reciprocal tariffs on India, saying New Delhi imposes high import duties on American goods, as the Donald Trump administration aims to reduce the country's trade deficit and boost manufacturing.
The move is expected to impact India's exports to the US.
President Trump, in a measure to counter higher duties on American products imposed globally, announced reciprocal tariffs on about 60 countries.
On the recently passed Waqf (Amendment) Bill, which has now become an Act, Pilot said the Congress made its stand very clear in Parliament and the Opposition was united in opposing it.
"The moot question - for what reason was this bill was brought into Parliament? The intention behind bringing this bill is not what is claimed.If there were some isolated incidents of non compliances or discrepancies that needed to be corrected, that could have been corrected.
"But the way the bill was brought, in such a rush, despite huge opposition from all corners, including political parties, stakeholders, community leaders, the intent was to have another debate in this country about Hindus and Muslims and Mandir and Masjid, to divide the country and polarise the narrative on religious lines," Pilot said.
"It's an old trick for the BJP to avoid accepting and resolving real issues like Manipur, unemployment, food price inflation, Chinese incursions into our territory and divert the attention of the country toward highly contentious and polarising issues just to suit their political and electoral agenda," he said.
President Droupadi Murmu on Saturday gave her assent to the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2025, which was passed by Parliament last week after heated debates in both Houses.
