Karnataka govt explores cruise tourism; Karwar and Mangaluru considered as first ports, ET TravelWorld

<p>Karnataka minister for fisheries, ports and inland water transport Mankal S Vaidya. </p> — Karnataka minister for fisheries, ports and inland water transport Mankal S Vaidya.

Karnataka fisheries and ports minister Mankal Vaidya on Thursday said the state government has started the process of encouraging cruise tourism with Karwar and Mangaluru being the first two ports where this will be considered.

“The process is still in its initial phase with cost efficiency and tourism potential being assessed,” he said.

The minister said his department is in talks with potential investors and is exploring the possibilities of launching cruise tourism in the state.

“As of now we are estimating that for 10 people to board a cruise we need INR 1 crore as infrastructure cost to construct at the port. Now, we need to assess the actual requirements and how big an infrastructure will be required for the purpose,” he said.

Earlier, Vaidya said the government has decided to increase the upper cap of diesel for fishermen boats from 1.5 lakh kilolitre to 2 lakh kilolitre per month for fishing activities and continue providing kerosene of up to 200 litres per month with INR 35 as subsidy per litre.

“However, with the Centre not allocating Karnataka its kerosene quota, the state government is fending the subsidy bills,” he said, expressing his disappointment.

Meanwhile, Vaidya said on Thursday at a meeting of the fisheries department and legislators from the coastal districts discussions were held on launching the government scheme of providing vehicles for fish sales.

“We will be launching 150 electric vehicles for sale of fish to people who have applied for the government scheme to become fish vendors. The 150 vehicles will be given in the first phase at Bengaluru and later extended to the rest of Karnataka,” he said.

Vaidya said the scheme will see the symbolic launch on November 21, commemorating the world fisheries day, with the CM and DCM handing over the keys to some of the beneficiaries.

As per the scheme, general category vendors will have to pay INR 2 lakh and SC/ST need to pay INR 1.5 lakh as deposit and INR 3000 as maintenance fee for two year period to the fisheries department.

“If for any reason the vendors decide to stop then they can return the vehicle to the department and collect the deposit money. The same vehicle will then be handed over to other people who have applied for the purpose,” he said.

On the ambitious Sagarmala project of the central government, Vaidya said there is little room for the state to utilise the scheme on account of the Coastal Regulatory Zone (CRZ) restrictions and that the state is working towards securing an exemption from it for the purpose.