"Factored In Heavy Rains": Official On Goa G20 Meet Amid Cyclone Landfall

Preparations for two key G20 events on tourism next week in Goa have been made keeping in mind heavy Monsoon rains but there is "absolutely no concern" at present over any impact on the programmes due to impending cyclone Biparjoy, a top official said on Wednesday.

Biparjoy is expected to make landfall near Jakhau port in Gujarat's Kutch district on June 15, as a very severe cyclonic storm with a maximum sustained wind speed of 125-150 kmph.

The fourth G20 Tourism Working Group Meeting and the G20 Ministerial Meeting are to be held in Goa from June 19-22.

India will mark the International Yoga Day (IYD) on June 21, which will coincide with the G20 events scheduled to be hosted in Goa.

Interacting with reporters here, Union Tourism Secretary V Vidyavathi also said that all yoga-related side events will be held in indoor facilities, in view of the monsoon season.

Asked if there were any concern as to the impact on the G20 events in Goa due to cyclone Biparjoy, she said, "This is monsoon time. We will be keeping a tab on that especially when it is a monsoon season. We have anyway, factored in heavy rains, in our preparations for the events. So, the question is, is it going to be heavy, heavier or heaviest. But, no concern, absolutely as of now (due to cyclone Biparjoy)".

Cyclone Biparjoy has "extensive damaging potential" and is likely to impact Gujarat's Kutch, Devbhumi Dwarka and Jamnagar districts the most, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Tuesday.

Biparjoy weakened from an extremely severe cyclone to a very severe cyclone on Tuesday. It is predicted to cross Saurashtra and Kutch in Gujarat and the adjoining Pakistan coasts between Mandvi in Gujarat and Karachi in Pakistan near the Jakhau Port (Gujarat) around the evening of June 15.

A senior official in the tourism ministry had recently said that G20 delegates and ministers were to take part in yoga sessions at Dona Paula beach and an indoor stadium later in June as part of the side events lined up alongside the two crucial tourism-track meetings of the influential bloc.

An official in Panaji on Monday said, with the pre-monsoon spell in Goa, all activities on beaches have come to a standstill and lifeguards have installed red flags at vulnerable spots.

The beach shacks, which are allotted by the state tourism department, are dismantled as the seashore wears a deserted look. At many beaches, crowds are thinned due to the rising water level, a phenomenon associated with the southwest monsoon.

People familiar with the planning of the events had earlier said as G20 events are happening around IYD, delegates will also get to experience "Yoga in Goa" besides other cultural engagements.

"The G20 ministers will take part in a Yoga session at the Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Indoor Stadium, while delegates will perform some 'asanas' at the Dona Paula beach in Goa and get to experience this ancient ethos of India," the senior official had told PTI here.

The fourth G20 Tourism Working Group (TWG) meeting will be held on June 19-20. The purpose of the meeting is to discuss and address global tourism challenges and opportunities, officials said. 

The G20 ministerial meeting after the TWG meeting is scheduled to be held on June 21-22, with ministers of tourism from the G20 countries and other invited guests to discuss the outcomes of the previous working group meetings and adopt a joint declaration on tourism cooperation, they said.

All G20 tourism ministers of all member countries, invited countries and heads of international organisations have requested for "bilateral meetings with out tourism minister for mutual cooperation and and deliberation on tourism-related matters", the official said. 

These two documents were the two key deliverables of the third tourism track meet, held in the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir from May 22-24, and G20 members have broadly reached an agreement on the five inter-connected priority area, then Union Tourism Secretary, Arvind Singh, had said on May 26.

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