PANJIM: The Tourism Department has issued a show cause notice to seven boat operators and 13 boats for conducting joy rides in an unauthorised and unsafe manner.
The authorities observed that the operators were not following safety guidelines and were operating in areas that were not notified for tourism activities.
If you enjoyed reading this article, you can help support our journalism by adding OHeraldo as a preferred source.
Minimum penalties have now been imposed on the violators while mandating them to follow the standard approved guidelines and system devised for the water sports activities.
Tourism Minister Rohan Khaunte said that the department doesn’t wish to damage the livelihood of water sports operating in Panjim.
“We have asked them to follow safety guidelines and have allowed them to operate by the time they reply to the show cause notice. We need to check as to which areas are notified for these tourism related activities,” Khaunte informed.
“The Captain of Ports has no jurisdiction to allow the boats to operate for tourism purpose and the cruise boat operators who have been booked did not have the permissions from the Tourism Department,” the Minister said.
“The illegal guides and touting have to stop. The operators have to be put in place and the Tourism Department will get them follow the guidelines,” Khaunte added.
“We needed to act against illegalities and we will continue in our drive against illegal activities,” he said.
