Kamat plans rejuvenation of tourism sector

Ahmednagar, Maharashtra, July 8 (UNI) Goa Chief Minister Digambar Kamat has said his government was chalking out several plans to attract domestic and international tourists to the state.

Goa has huge potential to generate revenue through tourism, Mr Kamat said while speaking to reporters at Kopargaon. The Goa Chief Minister was here along with his family to visit the famed Shirdi Sai Baba temple.

Apart from tourism, his government also plans to bring about radical changes in the health and education sectors of the state.

He said his government will focus special attention on the revenue, home, urban development, health and education departments since many aspects of these departments had become ''centralised'' and needed to be decentralised. Mr Kamat claimed that the favourable changes envisaged by his government would bear the fruits within two years.

The common man should get caste certificate and revenue department-related important documents within 48 hours, and the Goa administration has already initiated the process in this direction, he claimed.

While admitting that Goa has come to be recognised as an ''unstable'' state, Mr Kamat claimed his government will complete its full tenure. Despite the presence of several senior leaders, Mrs Sonia Gandhi has entrusted the responsibility on me and the decision has been well accepted by the people, he said.

Mr Kamat said he had never even dreamt of becoming the chief Minister. ''I was attending a religious function when I learnt that my name had been proposed for the Chief Minister's post,'' Mr Kamat said, adding that as a result he had emerged as a ''surprise Chief Minister'' and would, accordingly, ''surprise'' the people by his work.

Earlier, Mr Kamat was felicitated by the Shirdi Sai Baba Temple trustee Ashok Khambekar.

UNI