THURSDAY, APRIL 25, 2024
Team Herald
MARGAO: The Goa Shack Owners Welfare Society (GSOWS) submitted a memorandum to Chief Minister Pramod Sawant containing 12 demands, which they want considered before allotting shacks in the next tourism year.
GSOWS emphasized that they are opposing the proposed model shack policy being adopted by the Department of Tourism wherein four model shacks costing Rs one crore each, are projected to be built on the beaches by the Tourism Department, and then auctioned to the highest bidders. They added that while forming the new policy, old beach shacks should be considered as a special category. They further demanded that the shack allotment should henceforth should annually begin in April and be completed by May-end so that the allottees can make the arrangements to commence the shack business by the second week of September, provided that the government also finishes all preliminaries such as licences and demarcations of locations on the beach in advance. They asked that the electric and water connections must be provided as soon as the licences are issued.
They insisted that the Tourism Department provides for the periodic collection of sewage waste as there is no motorable access to the shacks.
“It’s also important that the allotted shack places must be incorporated in GPS so that variations and encroachments can be identified at site. The area by the side and in front of the shacks where the shack owners can put deck beds, chairs and tables must be clearly demarcated too, to prevent public complaints and to enable the public to enjoy free space on the beach,” said GSOWS President Cruz Cardozo. He called for reducing the ‘excessive fees’ considering that facilities like electricity, water and sewerage clearance are not available.
GSOWS also expressed concern that in many places, shacks are clustered together with minimal distance, which is dangerous given that there have been instances of a fire starting in one shack engulfing the neighbouring shacks. They suggested that 10 metres be kept between shacks.
They also opposed MPT interfering with the beach shack policy for additional fees and demanded two seats on the Goa Tourism Board to represent GSOWS from both districts. Finally, they asked that once the beach shack allotment is done, allottees are permitted to exchange locations if they desire to do so, with an undertaking to the Tourism Department.
