After years of being notoriously known as a destination for drunken revelry, good seafood and fishermen with fierce tempers, the fishing hamlet of Pazhaverkadu has netted a prize catch - a clutch of ministers and top officials from the State government descended on the lakeshore town and agreed to a Rs 20-crore proposal to increase heritage tourism.
Popularly known as Pulicat, the name which the Dutch bestowed on it four centuries ago, the town will see a veritable makeover in the next few months, according to Xavier Benedict, who runs AARDE Foundation. The not-for-profit trust is incidentally the nodal agency which submitted the development proposal to the Tiruvallur district administration, a few months ago.
The largest drawback that has stopped people from holidaying in Pulicat all these years is the fact there isn’t a single hotel, inn or even homestay. “The tourism department will offer incentives for local people with large houses who are willing to renovate and operate a few rooms on a bed-and-breakfast basis,” explained Benedict. Other than this, there will also be better roads, highways, streetlights and public water dispensers to make the place tourist-friendly.