A beach needs to comply with at least 33 pre-requisites to achieve the Blue Flag certificate. This includes the quality of seawater, toilet, changing rooms, first aid centres, solar lighting and parking lots.
Odisha, India, June 06, 2019 —
The Puri Beach is a beach in the city of Puri in the state of Odisha, India. It is on the shore of the Bay of Bengal. It is known for being a tourist attraction and a Hindu sacred place. The beach is the site of the annual Puri Beach Festival, which is co-sponsored by the Indian Ministry of Tourism, the city of Odisha, the Development Commissioner of Handicrafts, and the Eastern Zonal Cultural Center, Kolkata.
The beach hosts sand art displays, including work by international award-winning local sand artist Sudarshan Pattnaik. The sand artist has received acclaim from all over the world due to his daily sand arts dedicated to some cause. He usually gives out a message with his art. He also trains his students for the sand artwork. Some of his work can be seen below:
What Is The Blue Flag Certification?
This tag is given to environment-friendly and clean beaches which are equipped with amenities of international standards for tourists.
The Puri beach in the state of Odisha will be the first beach in Asia to get the Blue Flag certification.
Federation of Environment Education (FEE), a Denmark-based organization, selected Puri beach for the coveted Blue Flag certification.
Indian Beaches To Be Brought To International Standards
According to the Ministry of Forest and Environment, besides Puri, a total of 13 beaches in India will now have environment-friendly resources to transform them and bring them to international standards. All these beaches will also get the Blue Flag certification.
The Society for Integrated Coastal Management (SICOM), an initiative by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, is spearheading the development of India’s beaches, under this programme.
How To Get The Blue Flag Certification?
A beach needs to comply with at least 33 pre-requisites to achieve the Blue Flag certificate. This includes the quality of seawater, toilet, changing rooms, first aid centres, solar lighting and parking lots. While the central government will be investing Rs 10 crore for the project, SICOM will fund it with Rs 2 crore.
According to available data, Spain has the largest amount of Blue Flag Beaches. It has a total of 578 beaches followed by Turkey with 436 beaches and Greece with 395 beaches with the Blue Flag Certification.
