ICZMP & Digha Beach Festival, 2014

Digha is now one of the prime tourist destinations of West Bengal. Govt. of West Bengal each year organizes Digha Beach Festival, to promote tourism related activities in an around Digha area.

This year ICZM Project too made its presence felt in the Digha Beach Festival.

The opening session of this Festival was graced by the important dignitaries of the State namely

1) Sri Subhendu Adhikary, Hon'ble MP, Haldia & Chairman, HDA

2) Sri Soumen Mahapatra, Hon'ble MIC, Water Investigation and Development, Govt. of West Bengal

3) Sri Ranajit Mondal, Hon'ble MLA, Khejuri

4) Smt. Banashree Maity, Hon'ble MLA, Kanthi Uttar

5) Sri Ajit Ranjan Bardhan, IAS, Principal Secretary, Tourism Department, WB

6) Shri Bhishmadeb Dasgupta , Managing Director, WBTDCL, WB

7) Smt. Antara Achariya, DM, Purba Medinipur

8) Sri Soumen Pal, Executive Officer, DSDA

9) Sri Tomojeet Chakraboty, BDO, Ramnagar - I

10) Sri Pritam Saha, BDO, Ramnagr - II

11) Miss Madhurima Mondal, Sobhadhipoti, Purba Medinipur Zilla Parishad

12) Sri Debobrata Das, Karmadhakshya, Fishery & Forest

13) Sri Netai Sar, Shabhapoti, Ramnagar - I Block

One of the main attractions of the festival was the beautiful Sand-Art work of Sudarshan Pattanayak created along the beach. Several sporting events were also organized with the aid of Bengal Olympic Association. The evening session of the Beach Festival were garnished with musical and dance performances of different artists of repute.

This year ICZM project launched awareness campaign in Digha Beach Festival 2014.The mass awareness campaign has the following important ingredients/features.

1.    Performances of the “Ronpa” (traditional Bengali folk dance) group along the shoreline of Digha.

2.    Slogan Contest, hinges around the pressing coastal issues.

3.    Computer mediated quiz contest

4.    Performances of “Potua” group – (scroll painters and singers). The focal theme of the scroll paintings and songs revolve around the importance of afforestation and also negating the usage of plastics from our daily life.

It is to be noted that ICZMP’s innovative approach to connect to the local populace has been appreciated from different sections. The need of the hour is to sustain this momentum, so that the messages of eco-friendly sustainable development for the sake of coastal well-being can be actualized within a legitimate time frame.