PANJIM: Shack owners from Baga and Sinquerim beach on Friday expressed dissatisfaction over Tourism Department’s decision to do business for only one season and not for three years as per shack policy.
Speaking to Herald, Goa Shack Owners’ Welfare Society (SOWS) President Cruz Cardozo said, “I am totally unaware of why the department has come up with this, that shacks on Baga and Siquerim will be allowed only for one year when they paid fees for the next three years. I will inquire with the department and will take up the matter with the government once the demarcation of shacks is done.”
Explaining why the decision was taken, Tourism Director Sanjeev Dessai said, “That decision has been taken entirely by GCZMA and shack owners from those beaches will be allowed to do business only for one year and not three years. The situation will be reviewed by GCZMA.”
“The government has already sent a team to demarcate the shacks on the
beaches in North and South Goa. We can say that demarcation process for South is almost fully completed while, in North there are some beaches left to complete,” said Dessai.
A shack owner said, “This is not fair. When they say they have extended the policy till 2019 then why are we only allowed to do business for a single season?”
Meanwhile, the tourism season in Goa that started in October is approaching a peak, but the beach shacks are yet to come up on the beaches, with the Department of Tourism confirming that demarcation process for shacks is in the final stages.
Further stating that the next process after demarcation will be erecting shacks, only after which the final inspection will be carried out and NOC given.
“The demarcation process is almost fully completed on South Goa beaches while, in North, Mandrem, Candolim and many others are still left. Tourism Department has promised us that they will issue provisional NOC certificates to the shacks owners before the final inspection is done,” said Cardozo.
“Each shack owner has approximately lost around Rs 2.5 lakh of business in the past two and half months and our association has decided to meet the Chief Minister and the Tourism Minster demanding some relief or compensation,” Cruz added.
