Even with the formation of the new committee of the Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority (GCZMA), granting of shack licences is far from a simple affair. And multiple court directions has meant that the process will be more prolonged and complex, with there being no guarantees for even veteran shack owners, that their shacks will be ultimately be allowed in the same place where they have been stationed for years. .
The new GCZMA will physically identify and demarcate specific locations for each shack across the coastal belt of North and South Goa which accounts for 367 shacks, 259 in North Goa and 108 in South Goa. This inspection is expected to be complete in three days and may even take as many as five, even though the GCZMA is expected in its meeting on November 8 to decide on the shack policy. Please note, this meeting is expected only to decide on the policy, post which shack allotments will be finalised. But then again not quite. The National Centre for sustainable Coastal Management’s (NCSCM) final report on the beach carrying capacity of the state is still awaited with no sign of when this will be done. And since this is a direction of the National Green Tribunal, the shack policy is hostage to this report.
But this won’t be the end of it. NCSCM in its interim report has recommended a buffer zone of 8 meters between the shacks and about 40 square kilometres of “Ecologically sensitive areas (ESA) to be marked as ‘No Go’ areas.
With a week of November almost over, it will take atleast a month for a semblance of clarity on when shack operations can commence. Moreover, after a prima facie green signal, shack owners will have to construct their shacks and then keep them ready for a final inspection, based on which the final licence will be issued. But there’s no guarantee that they will get the licence even after construction.
It’s therefore tough to fathom, how many shacks will finally survive the intense scrutiny and the meeting of standards and even if they do so, where they will finally be located. This delay is going to be a body blow to this tourism season, in a manner which the government has not yet realised. But the government cannot really be faulted. The NGT directives and the delay by the Ministry of Environment and Forest to form the new GCZMA body has spiralled into a situation where the shack policy itself cannot be declared.
The irony and the tragedy is this. The tourists have arrived and continue to do so. Losing what could be 60 days of the tourist season, i.e. two months out of five, is a cardinal waste. If word goes out, and it already has, that Goa’s main USP, its beach shacks are not ready, it will seriously affect the influx and this will lead to a nosedive in tourists spends. And with each rupee less spent, the local economy loses that rupee. Thus the delay in giving shack allotments is hitting at the entire local tourists economy which includes hotels, food and vegetable supplies, laundry, local transportation, car and bike hires and spends on local restaurants etc.
Simple forward planning and fixing this on September 1 instead of December 1 would have saved this year for tourism. That looks to be under severe threat.
