Digha, Dec. 22: Digha has changed, Mamata Banerjee was told by tourists she interacted with during her stroll down a beach walkway this morning.

Every time she asked if the tourists - several hundreds were on the beach this morning - found everything in order, they complimented her for the changes in the seaside destination.

" Didi, Digha bodley gyachhey," tourists told the chief minister. She did look pleased during her 50-minute walk.

She reminded district magistrate Antara Acharya that though the tourists seemed happy, she had several plans to turn the beach into one of the most attractive tourist destinations in the state.

"Digha has everything.... We just need to create some more good infrastructure.... Couples and other tourists must not be disturbed. The administration must ensure that," Mamata said as she walked briskly along the paved walkway.

Digha is a known tourist spot but because of several problems, such as littered beaches, poor road connectivity, absence of a proper walkway along the beach and concerns about safety, tourism never developed as an organised industry here.

Sources in the tourism industry in Digha said some of the recent measures had given a boost to tourism.

One of the most visible changes was the paved 4km walkway parallel to the beach in Old Digha.

The other step taken by the government was the attempt to develop infrastructure around the Udaipur beach along the Bengal-Odisha border.

A territorial dispute between the two states, over a 1km road between Digha's bus terminus and the Udaipur beach, had been an obstacle that Mamata was trying to overcome. Odisha claimed that the approach road to the Udaipur beach was in its territory and did not allow Bengal police to set up an outpost there.

When the matter was not resolved despite several meetings between the two states, an alternative approach road to the Udaipur beach was laid at the cost of Rs 44 lakh. The 500m road, connecting Digha and Udaipur, was completed two days ago. Mamata took a stroll down this road too.

After holding an administrative meeting at a fisheries department facility, Mamata went to the beaches for a walk in the morning.

"We are also building a road connecting Mandarmoni and Digha through Tajpur. It's a 20km stretch and we want to complete it as soon as possible. Once ready, the experience will be better than that of Marine Drive in Mumbai," she said.

Road connectivity featured prominently in the meeting, sources said. Mamata asked a representative from the National Highways Authority of India about the main approach highway to Digha, NH116B, which is being widened.

The chief minister wanted to know when the widening to 10m would be completed.

The central official said that the road, narrow and potholed in several places, would be widened soon. He said work on a 35km stretch for Rs 22 crore had begun. Mamata requested him to finish the work by March 2016.