The famous Baga beach is under hawkers’ menace as they are reportedly operating behind the back of police.
Thousands of foreign tourists as well as Indians have been using the famous Baga beach with the number of visitors increasing day by day. However, with the number of tourists swelling, so have the hawkers, who are never absent.
On one side the police are conducting drives to curb hawkers’ menace on the Calangute coastal belt but the hawkers are frequenting the beach and reportedly harassing the tourists.
The lady hawkers are doing business of selling artificial jewellery, embroidered clothes and more and are reportedly forcing the tourists to buy their product.
Sources also said hawkers are illegally providing body massage. When Herald team visited Baga, it was found that a group of lady hawkers were loitering on the beach.
There are four PSIs and teams of IRB staff personnel deployed by the tourism on costal belt of north Goa but even after this the hawkers’ menace still exists.
Calangute police have booked 250 hawkers from January 2017 till date.
PI Jivba Dalvi of Calangute, said, “Our drive to curb the hawkers’ menace on the coastal belt from Baga, Calangute to Sinquerim is on. We have almost cleared all the hawkers who were doing business such as selling of ice-creams, corn and artificial stuff on beaches and the drive will continue till the problem is solved.”
