VITHALDAS HEGDE
A rent-a-car over turned at Saligao on Tues day, becoming the latest in a string of accidents in volving rented tourist ve hicles across Goa over the past fortnight and raising questions about whether the State’s authorities have failed to curb a problem they have long acknowledged. The Saligao mishap comes barely days after a hit-and run case near Sirlim Bandh in Margao involving a rent a-car driver from Pune, who allegedly knocked down a scooterist and fled the scene before being arrested. Ear lier, at Siolim, a two-wheel er rider was killed and a 13-year-old boy injured af ter being struck by a vehicle allegedly driven by a drunk hotel chef. The succession of crash es has intensified scrutiny of Goa’s thriving rent-a-ve hicle industry, with road safety activists, residents and even operators point ing to glaring enforcement gaps, weak monitoring and the absence of a compre hensive mechanism to track tourists hiring vehicles.
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The recurring accidents are particularly embarrass ing for the government be cause the issue is far from new. Last year, Chief Min ister Pramod Sawant pub licly stated that nearly 70 per cent of road accidents in Goa were linked to rent a-bike and rent-a-car vehi cles used by tourists. The admission reignited de bate over a business model that has expanded rapidly alongside the State’s tour ism industry. Following mounting con cerns, the Transport De partment directed the State Transport Authority not to grant fresh licences and permits under the Rent-a Car Scheme from February 2025. Yet, despite the mora torium, accidents involving rented vehicles continue to make headlines, prompting critics to question whether the government’s response has been largely cosmetic. Official figures show that Goa currently has 10 rent-a car licence holders operating 6,762 valid permits, while rent-a-bike permits exceed 21,000. Critics argue that while the State has focused on regulating numbers, it has failed to adequately address accountability, enforcement and driver verification.
North Goa Rent-a-Car Association secretary Maulali ‘Munna’ Shaikh acknowledged that reckless driving and drunken driving remain persistent concerns. He said op erators have repeatedly urged police to conduct regular nakabandis, recalling that accidents were fewer when routine checks were carried out in tourism hotspots such as Calangute. “We have written to the police urging them to conduct regular nakabandis to deter drunken driving. We always advise customers not to drink and drive but despite re peated warnings, some still drive under the influence of alcohol,” Shaikh said. His remarks highlight a recurring complaint from stake holders – that enforcement tends to intensify only after major accidents rather than as a sustained preventive ex ercise. Goa Civic and Consumer Action Network (GOACAN) co ordinator Roland Martins said the recent accidents expose deeper structural flaws in the rental vehicle ecosystem. “There is no proper database of those hiring vehicles nor is there any system to verify whether the person rent ing the vehicle is facing criminal cases in his native State,” Martins said, adding that the scheme requires urgent re structuring to plug loopholes and improve accountability.
According to Martins, the latest incidents should serve as a wake-up call for the government to undertake a com prehensive review of the scheme rather than relying on piecemeal measures. Some critics have gone further, accusing authorities of allowing a dangerous situation to persist despite repeated warnings. Jai Damodar, Margao proprietor Mahesh Naik demand ed a complete audit of the sector and alleged that lax regu lation has enabled unsafe practices to continue unchecked. “Enough is enough. How many more lives must be lost because of these rent-a-bike and rent-a-car operators?” Naik asked, calling for stricter action against both offend ing drivers and operators who fail to ensure responsible use of their vehicles. Naik also questioned the effectiveness of the existing legal framework, arguing that offenders often secure bail quickly while accident cases drag on for years. He further pointed to a common practice where tourists who hire ve hicles subsequently hand them over to friends or compan ions who may be inexperienced or unfamiliar with local driving conditions. The police, however, maintain that enforcement re mains robust. SP (Traffic) Prabodh Shirwaiker said action is taken whenever violations are detected and that author ities continue to focus on enforcement, education and en gineering interventions to improve road safety. Yet, with another rent-a-car overturning on Goa’s roads and fresh accidents occurring in quick succession, crit ics say the question is no longer whether authorities are aware of the problem, but why a State that has repeatedly acknowledged the risks associated with rental vehicles continues to witness the same pattern of crashes.
