Herald: We will start with Valigno. When you sell Goa, aren’t shacks still your biggest USP (Unique selling proposition)
Valigno Dias: Even as we go out to sell Goa, we know that shacks are the biggest draw. People have relationships with shacks and they are fundamental to tourism. There can be no tourism without shacks and their problems need to be addressed
Cruz Cardozo: As you said, we are in the middle of October. Every year the shacks are opening in late November although we deposit shack fees by September 15. Everybody loses these two months. Not just we but also the shack owners, restaurants, taxi drivers, other shopkeepers and hotels. When tourists realise that the Goa season does not start in September or October they will go elsewhere. We just cannot understand why the authorities delay for so long .
Herald: But Dharmesh as the head of the Goa Private Shacks Association, your issues are completely different
Dharmesh Saglani: Yes. Somebody has approached the court stating that our private shacks violate CRZ rules.
There is a directive that we must get an NOC from the GCZMA (Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority.
We have intervened. Many of the private shacks have been in existence for years. We will only have to wait.
Herald: There is a shack policy dovetailed in the tourism policy in place. So why is the problem?
VD: There are various policies in place. But the guys who are supposed to implement them, are not interested in setting deadlines. If you set a deadline, then you can work forwards and backwards, then it will happen. For example it’s the middle of October and we don’t know when shacks will start functioning.
DS: I would like to interrupt. Take (they should) the stake holders into confidence and then decide on the policy so you can know the problems.
Herald: You have studied the policy. What are the practical points that can be implemented and those that cannot?
CC: For beach shacks there are 45 conditions. If they strictly follow their policy, none of the shacks will come up because some conditions are very harsh. For example they want us to get chemical toilets. This is no possible because they are not available. We are ready to buy. We cannot go to America just for the chemical toilets. There should be toilets available in Goa so that we can buy. Also now policy is for three years. My demand is that give us licenses for 10 years so we can spend. They have given us licenses for 3 years. One year it is gone, we got out licenses last year in December.
If the policy is correct, then implement it. They are not implementing their own policies. Give the licenses in September so that all these things can fall in place.
Herald: Are you ready to install CCTV cameras?
CC. They want surveillance cameras in all places. We are ready to do this. As far as footage that we have to maintain, I don’t know what can be done. Even in police stations the footage is not maintained.
DS: Because of the salinity, it gets corroded. I have CCTVs in my places. But the government should set up the cameras.
VD: I can’t understand the policy of setting up CCTVS in the shacks. In big hotels is okay but not in shacks. If anything has to happen it will happen on the beach. But the onus is on the government. You can charge them a onetime fee, but the onus is on the government. If I am given the protection then I am willing to pay for it.
DS: Give us a longer term and we will put up all these things. Chemical toilets, cameras and everything.
CC: It is not easy to put these things up and take them down. All these things come up at the same time. Beach shacks, private shacks, huts. There is a labour shortage too.
VD: Ours is the best place in the world. It is a blessed place. It is the one place where one can get the real leisure that you are looking for. But at the end of the day we do have problems.
What does a tourist destination need? It needs good private and public transport, clean and clear from garbage and cattle menace and basic amenities like toilets and parking. If you can provide this, then 90 per cent of the work is done. The balance 10 percent is the nitty gritty of fighting with someone over some small thing. Government’s clear cut policy should be to ensure that one sees the light at the end of the tunnel.
CC: The BJP government had got a clear majority. If now this government cannot do it then in future too nobody will be able to do it.
Herald: How would you solve this, if you were in charge?
CC: I would have put up basic infrastructure such as roads, and toilets. We started charter tourism some 30 years ago but till date we do not have basic infrastructure. And I would have a policy for genuine shack owners and have another policy for new comers. Now there are shack owners for the past 40 years. But they have been deprived because of this lottery system.
Herald:And Veligno you?
VD: There was an eminent personality Deen Dayal Upadaya who said that government should play a minimum role. But has to be a catalyst to provide whatever is needed. Private players have to be in the market. Then every policy will be in its place because no private person will put money where he will make a loss. He will put his money where his mouth is. He is going to ensure that he is going to get the best returns.
Herald:: What is the private player going to do?
VD: He will look after everything. He will look after parking, he will look after transport, toilets… everything.
Herald: So you are saying outsource it to a private party?
CC: Not to one individual. But outsource it to the private sector. And the private sector is the only sector that has shown growth. It happens all over the world.
DS: I would take stakeholders into confidence first. Hear them out clearly, find out what are the problems faced by them and then form a policy.
And make it simpler (simple policy). If the policy is very easy then no Goan would like to go abroad and work on ships. People are going on ships because the process is so lengthy. Also if the government makes the process simpler, they will generate employment and they will generate revenue as well.
They say ‘Go Goa in monsoon’. But what do the tourists have during the monsoon? Why does the government not give the permission to shack owners to run them in the monsoon? Leave it to them whether they want to run it or not. Private entrepreneurs know how to do business.
