TEAM HERALD
PANJIM: The Beach Shack Policy was afforded a nod by MLAs hailing from coastal areas on Tuesday, giving the Goa tourism ministry a green signal for implementation of the three-year policy from this tourism season onwards.
While many of the coastal MLAs were not present for the meeting, those who attended, agreed to the terms placed before them for consideration as the policy is slated for cabinet approval.
It is not clear yet whether the shack policy will be placed before the Cabinet which is meeting Wednesday. However with not much opposition to any of the terms and conditions, and the tourism ministry’s plan to expedite the implementation of the policy, it seems likely that the cabinet could have the shack policy on its agenda.
What is interesting is that besides increasing the term of licence, the policy has proposed for increasing the license fee by Rs 5,000 over last years’ fee for each of the three years and in each category enlisted.
While there is silence on the fee structure for shacks and huts in private property, insiders say that there is a huge fee hike proposed for this segment. It also proposes 10 pairs of deck beds and an additional five deck beds depending on availability of space on each stretch of beach.
Each shack will also have to compulsorily have a toilet in addition to measures to clear garbage generated by it.It appears that installation of CCTVs may also be made mandatory.
MLAs who were present Tuesday made a couple of recommendations with Vasco MLA Carlos Almeida recommending allotment of shacks at Baina beach.
Calangute MLA Michael Lobo sought for allotment of shacks to the extent of 80 per cent for experienced shack operators or those in the business for four to 10 years, 10 per cent for new comers and 10 per cent for those in the business for period from one to three years.
It is learnt that the policy has not made any major changes in the size for shacks or uniform design.
The MLAs who attended meeting included Mickky Pacheco, Mauvin Godinho, Laxmikant Parsekar, Michael Lobo, Carlos Almeida and tourism minister Dilip Parulekar and officials of the tourism were also present.
