Photographs of tourists in busloads stopping by the wayside and cooking in the open flashed on the social media last week, prompting an outrage among the residents of the State. This issue also came up in the Assembly and the government announced that it would form special squads to check on tourists who cook on the roadside and eat there itself, littering the place. A further announcement was made of setting up camping sites for tourists with facilities for cooking and for ablutions during their trip in the State. Both initiatives are most welcome in the State, but the reaction from beyond the State’s borders to this was quite surprising, as a few glossed over the special squads and concentrated solely on the camping sites, giving it a very different twist.
Within hours of the news being published online, it was picked up by other news agencies or newspapers and besides being uploaded on various sites, snippets of this were also to be found on the social media, some of them highlighting how Goa is making it easier for budget tourists to visit the State. For a section of the people and media, easing the way for budget tourists to visit the State, appeared to be the biggest take away from the announcements that were made in the Assembly.
That, however, would not have been the aim of the government. The two initiatives have been proposed as urgently required measures to reduce the ugly spectacle of tourists cooking on the roadside and give them a proper facility where to cook, eat and sleep. It does not necessarily mean that the government is promoting budge tourism in a big way, and any such idea needs to be quelled by the Tourism Department. Camping sites for tourist are not a new idea as in the past there have been suggestions of such a facility, and for a State that is aiming at increasing footfalls of high spending tourists, the sudden increase of budget tourists would possibly not be a welcome step.
Interestingly, a few days later, as he spoke at the main Liberation Day function, Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar said that the State’s economy depends on cleanliness and if the surroundings and beaches are kept clean, more tourists would drop in on the State. While it is also imperative to keep the State clean for economic reasons, it is also important to ensure that tourism does not lead to the creation of garbage. Tourists littering has to be checked and dealt with sternly, and tourists using the camping facilities that are planned would also need to keep the place clean for the next group of tourists that would be using it.
Goa has had a bitter experience of dirty beaches, requiring the State to spend in crores of rupees annually to clean up after the tourists. This should not happen at the camping sites, and the special squads should also be tasked with ensuring that those using the camping sites and those on beaches do not litter and dirty the place. Tourism is now the economic mainstay of the State, and cleanliness is imperative for its future growth.
The Chief Minister on Liberation Day also announced that Goa would be garbage free on December 19 next year and that the laws required to make Goa a garbage-free State would be notified January 26 next year. He added that the approval to increase grants to panchayats to take up the work of garbage collection, has been given. As the administrative issues are ironed out, the people, and tourists too, should cooperate to ensure that the State does indeed become garbage free.
