Pics: Kevin Rodrigues/Umesh Marpalli
Daijiworld Media Network – Mangaluru (HB)
Udupi, Sep 28: A sea of people gathered at Padubidri beach on Tuesday, September 27 to celebrate World Tourism Day 2016, held under the aegis of the Udupi district administration, the department of tourism of Udupi and the coastal tourism committee.
Kaup MLA Vinay Kumar Sorake inaugurated the event.
Addressing the gathering Sorake said, "It was a long-standing dream that finally came true. It is a day to start a new venture in tourism. Most countries are working towards developing tourism as a business. There are immense opportunities to promote tourism. There is also a considerable resource available in the district." He thus urged the people to make use of it.
In addition to it, he said, "They have made an effort to provide homestay facility to promote world tourism, but it was not possible to meet public expectations'.
Sorake congratulated Manohar Shetty, who adopted the Padubidri beach for development, and said, "It was a great initiation by Shetty and this would help develop the beach in all ways."
Kaup MLA promised, "In one year all the roads will be converted to two-ways. The Malpe-Padukere road construction work will complete soon'.
Marking the developments of Udupi, he said, "The district has secured many ranks on various fronts of development in the state, such as- education, cleanliness and senior citizen service. On October 10, the government is going to declare Udupi ’free from open ground defecation'."
Manohar Shetty from Sai Radha Group and also the president of coastal tourism committee, addressing the gathering said, 'Tourism is one of the roads leading to development. There is a need to develop tourism by using available resources. There are various types of tourism, but one needs to focus on its development on a larger scale. Tourism provides job opportunities for many'.
He also said, "Private participation is essential in developing such beaches. But some of the tourist spots lag behind on basic infrastructures. If businesspeople took an interest in it, without a doubt, the coastal beaches would develop as tourist attractions'.
There was a line up of events for the cultural programme by students of Alva's College to mark the day and uphold India's cultural heritage. The dance performances included - Lambani dance, Yakshagana form, Folk dance form of Sri Lanka, Manipuri stick dance, Kathak form of Uttar Pradesh, Garba and Dandiya. It was truly a visual treat for people, on Tuesday night.
Various sports events were organised, which included the tug-of-war for both men and women.
There was an impressive display of bike stunts, performed by an array of talented teams, which caused quite an excitement among the audience, who applauded and hooted in encouragement at the stuntmen.
The unique selfie contest was organised at the beach as part of the tourism day.
Programmes were held for the development of tourism with the motto of 'Tourism for all'.
All in all, it was a beautiful night for the locals of Padubidri and the people gathered from places afar, carrying wonderful moments from the shore.
Dr Mohan Alva, president, Alva's education institutions, Moodbidri, Lalaji Mendon - former MLA Kaup, Damayanti B Amin- president, Padubidri grama panchayat, Neetha Gururaj - member, taluk panchayat, Padubidri, Naveen Chandra Shetty - president, Kaup block Congress committee, Dr G Shankar - proprietor , G Shankar family trust, Jaya C Suvarna - Chairman of Bharat Cooperative bank, Mumbai, Prakash Shetty - MRG group ,Bengaluru, Kishore Alva - CEO of Adani power corporation limited Udupi, Ravi Shetty - Chairman of Sai Palace Hotel, Mumbai, Satish Shetty - Peninsular Group of Hotel, Mumbai, Devi Prasad Shetty - Belapu grama panchayat, Purushotham Shetty - proprietor of Ujwal developers, Diwakar Shetty - former president of KMF, and others were present.