The State Government has decided to form a Special Planning Authority (SPA) for development of the Talasari beach in Baleswar district. The decision was taken at a meeting presided over by CM Naveen Patnaik at the State Secretariat here on Friday. The SPA would consist of 36 villages of the Talasari, Chandaneswar and Bhusandeswar areas. While the Baleswar collector would be the Chairperson of the SPA, a senior official of the Tourism Department would be its Member-Secretary. The CM asked the officials to give special priority to tourism development apart from development of other sectors in the area. He also asked them to entrust an agency specialising in tourism development to prepare a master plan for the beach development project.
The meeting decided to form a project management unit (PMU) for development of tourism area. Among other things, growth of hotel industry, lighting of beach, construction of roads, coastal security, development of Chandaneswar and Bhusandeswar temple areas and facilities for the tourists were also discussed. Tourism and Culture Minister Ashok Panda, Bhogarai MlA Ananta Das, Chief Secretary GC Pati, Development Commissioner UN Behera, DGP Sanjeev Marik and Secretaries of the concerned departments were present.