Berhampur: The Blue Flag beach in Ganjam district‘s Sunapur has been shut for visitors to carry out annual maintenance. Once the work is completed, the beach will be opened, official sources said. “Annual maintenance is required to attract more visitors and to ensure its Blue Flag status. For this purpose, it has been closed to visitors for past one week. After completion, the beach would be handed over to Vana Surakshya Samiti (VSS) for functioning,” said Sunny Khokkar, divisional forest officer (DFO), Berhampur. “Moreover, there are less visitors now due to the scorching heat,” he said.The Blue Flag beach in Sunapur stretches over 800 m with facilities like specially designed wheelchairs for differently-abled persons, zero liquid waste discharge, lifeguard towers, trained paramedic staff to provide first aid and installation of CCTV, among others.”Located on the confluence of Bahuda river and Bay of Bengal, about 30 km from Berhampur, the Sunapur beach has got the Blue Flag status for two consecutive years due to active participation of locals and become a model for sustainablecoastal tourism,” said a senior forest officer.After Gopalpur, visitors prefer to visit Sunapur due its cleanliness and picturesque surroundings. Locals urged the govt to create adequate publicity about the Blue Flag beach so that more visitors come. “There is a need to create publicity about its significance,” said N Damburu Reddy, former zilla parishad member.