integrated coastal zone management project west ... - Iczmpwb.org

174F.2 Component B - Pollution prevention/ environmental qualitymanagement184. The Digha-Sankarpur area is one of the busy tourism areas of the state. The tourismis generally heavy (except during the monsoon months) and particularly so during theholiday seasons/periods and on week ends. Day trippers are also frequent in this coastal area.Since 2004 DSDA is the nodal agency for looking after the planning and development in theDigha-Sankarpur planning area, which is spread over an area of 8752.63 acres. It has 42 nos.Mouzas and is partly covered by three nos. of Gram Panchayets namely Padima-I, Padima-II, Talgachari-II. The total population is 50,000 (approx.).185. There is no functional underground sewerage and drainage system with houseconnections and treatment facilities. Solid waste collection and sanitary disposal system arealmost absent. Day trippers pollute the area indiscriminately due to inadequate civicfacilities. Therefore a separate component encompassing (i) beach cleaning and sanitation atDigha, (ii) Laying of sewer lines and treatment of DWF at Digha (iii) Solid wastemanagement in areas under Digha-Sankarpur Development Authority (DSDA). and (iv)Development of drainage system at Digha.Component B.1 – Beach cleaning and sanitation at Digha186. Beach area at Digha is getting constantly polluted due to presence of large number ofvendors operating from unauthorized shanties constructed on sea front. The items oftransactions particularly food items prepared and sold by the vendors are source of pollutionmainly as organic waste. The fishermen undertaking fishing operation at sea shore are alsoresponsible for polluting the beach by dumping dead fishes and also other living organism.The day trippers visiting the area leave trashes and litters during their stay at the beach area.As a result, the beach area is getting vitiated by the unwanted dumpings. The system ofcollection of refuge by the DSDA is very weak resulting in beach area remaining dirty.Moreover, due to inadequate presence of amenities like toilets and change room with showerfacilities the day trippers visiting the beach area are inconvenienced forcing them to pollutethe areas by using those as open toilets. The problem is not so acute at Sankarpur as noshanties have grown up in the beach area owing to lesser number of tourists visitingSankarpur as the beach area is threatened by menacing beach erosion. Beach cleaning andsanitation is considered most important for maintaining a clean environment for attractingmore tourists to Digha. A number of strategies have been evolved to make the beach areaclean and improve its sanitation.187. The strategies proposed are given below: