The tourism department of the government of India has declared Digha the best weekend destination in India. And now the World Bank has promised to provide Rs 25 crore for the improvement of the beach.
Digha Development Authority chairman, Professor Anandadev Mukherjee told the media that the director of the West Bengal tourism department received the award on behalf of the DDA at a function held in Mumbai on July 31, 2008.
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"The World Bank has also assured the DDA of providing Rs 25 crore for developing Digha as a model beach. We are preparing a project report for utilising the funds and will submit it to the authorities by September," DDA administrator Shyamal Mandal said.
The World Bank team, comprising representatives from the US, UK, Philippines and their Indian counterparts, toured the beaches of Digha and Sankarpur in January this year.
The endeavour to develop Digha beach as a tourist destination was first taken up during the British rule by Warren Hastings in 1772, the then governor of Bengal (he later became Governor-General of India).
When Hastings first visited Digha -- it was then known as Beerkul -- he was so impressed with its flat, hard beaches and casuarina trees, that in a letter to his wife he wrote that had at last found the "Brighton of the East" in Digha.
Later however, the significance of Digha was lost in the pages of history, till the second chief minister of West Bengal, Bidhan Chandra Roy began developing it as a tourist haven near Calcutta.
UNI
For more information on Digha do check out:
Digha travel guide
Digha beach
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Photograph: Eshakalyan Chowdhury/AFP/Getty Images
Also see: Weekend hotspots for you to explore
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