Team Herald
PANJIM: NGO Goencho Avaaz has demanded scrapping of the draft Tourism Master Plan 2018 claiming the plan to be destructive and meant to promote crime in the State.
Addressing the media on Monday, Goencho Avaaz co-convener Capt Viriato Fernandes alleged that the objectives of the policy have been drafted to help the corporates. “The consultant hired by the government for approximately a whopping Rs 4 crore seems to be clueless about the existing culture and heritage of Goa. They have followed a ‘top-bottom’ approach instead of a ‘bottom up’ approach and sadly they have not notified the plan in the official language Konkani to ensure that local people don’t read and submit objections to this destructive plan,” he alleged.
The NGO also questioned as to why the government did not consult the stakeholders while drafting the plan, an argument also put forth by Council for Social Justice and Peace and Centre for Research Tourism during a meeting last week.
“The government failed to take into confidence the main stakeholders, the local people of Goa. They have also failed miserably to take note of some main criteria laid down by the UN World Tourism Organisation in ensuring sustainable form of development as a part of UN Millennium Development goals,” Swapnesh Sherlekar, also co-convener of the NGO said, while lamenting that the consultant has neither mentioned about the tourists they are catering for nor aware of the carrying capacity in the State including the coastal belt. “It seems to be a master plan meant for ravaging our land with casinos, drugs, prostitution, rapes, murders, etc,” he commented.
Absence of discussion on disaster management, sand dunes, CRZ, power requirement, water shortage, traditional fishermen, etc, has also irked the NGO that demands scrapping of the plan with immediate effect. “We demand scrapping of this plan with immediate effect and ensuring that a white paper is brought out on the tourism sector. A committee comprising of eminent people from various
fields be formed to work out a sustainable tourism master plan. We do not need any foreign firms to teach us how tourism should be managed, rather they can learn from Goans who are running the trade for many decades,” the co-conveners said.
Demanding that the draft plan be scrapped, the NGO opined that any plan for tourism in Goa should have total participation of the local people and be discussed at the gram sabhas.
CSJP and CRT had come down heavily on the government for releasing the draft policy for Goa’s tourism without taking the stakeholders into confidence. The activists demanded six months extension to submit views/suggestions/objections to the plan, which ended on Monday.
