Panaji, May 30 (IANS): Meritorious students from Goa will soon get an all-expenses-paid trip to the Cellular Jail in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar said on Saturday.

He claimed that he was inspired by his visit to the islands and the prison and said Goa's meritorious students would be inspired to do better if they visit there.

"Everybody needs to visit Andamans once in a lifetime. Once you go there you get the feel... As CM, I plan to give some award to meritorious students whereby students would go and visit, they would have a stay for a day or two there, on the expenses of government," he said.

Parsekar was speaking as the chief guest during the inauguration of a new prison complex at Colvale, about 15 km north of the state capital.

He also said that during his vacation with his family in the islands earlier this month, he had the opportunity to spend some time in the cell where Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) ideologue Veer Savarkar was imprisoned in Cellular Jail during the colonial era.

"I went to the Cellular Jail (in the Andaman and Nicobar islands) and I spent some time there. I got an opportunity to sit in the same cell where Swatantraveer Savarkar was imprisoned," Parsekar said.

A sentence to the cellular prison in the Andaman and Nicobar islands, was infamously referred to as 'Kaala Paani' in the pre-Independence era.

Several top Indian freedom fighters including Savarkar, were imprisoned in the cells of the prison during the British rule in India.