With an aim to attract domestic and international tourists to Ratnagiri district, its guardian minister Ravindra Waikar has initiated a three-day long Ratnagiri Tourism Mahotsav which will begin on May 2.
Tourists can enjoy Konkani food and fish while revelling in folk music and 'Balya' dance, Waikar told reporters here today.
"Earlier the tourism Mahotsav was held every year but it stopped since the last 15 years. Ratnagiri has clean and untouched beaches, even better than that of Goa and facilities like scuba diving can attract a lot of tourists," Waikar said.
"From this year, the mahotsav will be held every year in various tehsils of the district," the minister said.
The government has decided to provide transport facilities to attract tourists to the mahotsav, he said.
For this, we have allocated Rs 500 crore to develop road and infrastructure projects.
He said that during the mahotsav, state transport and private transporters will facilitate a day tour to tourist spots within Ratnagiri on a concession fare basis.
The tourist spots will include Thiba palace, birth place of Lokmanya Tilak, Swatantryaveer Sawarkar memorial, Ganpatipule, Pawas and Marleshwar.
Marathi TV and theatre artistes will perform cultural programmes at Bhatye beach and at the ground of Gogte-Joglekar college.
"Tourists will also be given a concession at private hotels," the minister said.
The festival will conclude on May 4.
