CM Suvendu abolishes Digha 'tourist tax' from July 1; plans Mumbai-style marine drive

West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari has announced the complete abolition of the additional tourist subscription fee levied on visitors in the coastal town of Digha. Speaking to reporters on Sunday following a high-level administrative meeting of the Digha-Shankarpur Development Board (DSDB), Adhikari stated that the long-standing rule requiring tourists to pay an extra 10 Taka alongside their hospitality accommodation invoices will be permanently rescinded starting July 1. The Chief Minister labeled the minor tax collection as a tasteless administrative practice that is highly objectionable for a dignified government to enforce upon regular taxpayers already contributing through standard institutional channels like GST and income tax.

The policy shift has also paved the way for massive financial and operational scrutiny regarding past collections under the prior Trinamool Congress regime. According to state records, the 10 Taka hotel subscription fee reportedly brought in a modest sum of approximately 30 Lakh Taka on an annual basis, implying a documented footfall of roughly three lakh annual visitors. However, Chief Minister Adhikari pointed out a massive discrepancy in these figures, asserting that the actual tourist influx in Digha safely ranges between 30 Lakh to even 70 Lakh travelers per year. This immense computational gap has prompted the new administration to raise strong allegations of systemic evasion and corruption within the local tax collection pipelines managed by the previous government.

Beyond the tax abolition, the state administration unveiled an expansive, multi-phased modernization blueprint aimed at transforming the entire tourism and economic profile of West Bengal's coastal belt. The development roadmap places a primary emphasis on radically redesigning the local Marine Drive network, with Adhikari stating that the existing route will be aggressively expanded to seamlessly connect the contiguous shoreline extending from Digha all the way to Petuaghat. Dismissing the current infrastructure as inadequate, the Chief Minister explicitly vowed to reconstruct the coastal highway system into a world-class boulevard that mirrors the grand architectural scale of iconic oceanfront proms in Mumbai and Chennai.

The overarching economic master plan also envisions a major industrial leap through the proposed construction of a deep-sea port at Dadanpatrabar in nearby Tajpur. The state government currently retains direct administrative control over 1,700 acres of strategically situated coastal land, which features excellent natural maritime navigability suitable for heavy commercial shipping containers. The government intends to expedite land acquisition procedures to successfully complete the Nandakumar-Digha double railway line, emphasizing that modernizing regional railway transit links remains an absolute prerequisite to unlocking sustainable tourism growth across secondary hotspots like Mandarmani, Shankarpur, and Tajpur.