KARWAR: For the first time in India, water-based winch hang gliding will be introduced shortly in Karwar. Recently, the Tourism Ministry of the Union government has approved for winch hang gliding or payout winch boat hang gliding to Karwar under Swadesh Darshan scheme. Under the scheme, the Tourism Ministry has planned to release funds for the development of tourist places. With these funds, theme-based tourist circuits will be developed in the country.
Since Uttara Kannada district has a number of beaches, it has a lot of potentials to be the centre of coastal tourism in the state. A couple of years ago, when the scheme was announced by the Central government, the district administration of Uttara Kannada had chalked out various plans to develop select beaches including Karwar, Gokarna, Om, Kudle and Murdeshwara and also sent proposals to the Tourism Ministry.
Recently, the Centre approved for the installation of CCTV cameras, beach cleaning machines and water sports equipment including winch hang gliding. Rs 9.5 crores have been released and tender will be floated to facilitate the equipment soon. Winch hang gliding water sport is not available in any part of the country.