Mumbai: The immediate priority of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Commission’s (BMC) proposed department of tourism will be to revamp the forts and develop the beaches in the city.
The Shiv Sena-run civic body in it’s annual budget on February 4 had announced that it will set up it’s first ever dedicated department in tourism and it which will be working on developing tourism infrastructure of the city.
A senior civic official informed the Free Press Journal that Minister of Tourism and Environment Aaditya Thackeray will keep a close watch on the department and the heads of the department will be selected internally from the civic body.
In an attempt to facelift the tourism industry of the city, the top priority of the department will be to revamp the forts and beaches of the city.
“We have already started the first phase of the development works at the Dadar and Mahim beaches. The Versova beach is also being remodelled like Marine drive,” the official informed.
Furthermore, both Bandra and Worli forts will be remodelled. Decorative illumination with energy efficient LED luminaries will be installed inside the Worli fort, which can be viewed from the Bandra Worli Sea Link. He also stated beautification works of the Bandra fort and it’s adjoining areas will also be beautified.
“BMC has written to the Archaelogical Survey of India (ASI) to seek permission for the beautification works at the forts. If a No Objection Certificate (NOC) is received, then the project will be completed by FY 2020-21,” he said.
However, the civic officer maintained that the deadline of when the department will be formed is yet to be specified as most of the paper works are yet to take place.
