If you ask any local of the beach side villages of Velsao and Arrossim about their opinion on the beaches in their locality, the first thing they will point out is the beautiful silver stretch of sand lined with numerous palm trees. However, if you ask the same person to compare the beaches with any other beach in North Goa or a commercial beach of South Goa, they will criticize the tourism department followed by the local panchayat and blame them for completely neglecting the beaches in their localities despite promises of providing tourism facilities.
“We are now trained to listen to such fake assurances where officials have gone on about doing things for our beaches to accentuate the beauty of Velsao and even Arrossim by adding tourism related facilities. This has been going on every year, Except for deputizing life guards and some cleaning staff, they have given nothing to Velsao. It sometimes feels like there are more lifeguards than tourists here,” said Savio D’Cruz, a resident of Velsao.
Both these beaches located in the Mormugao taluka have been at the receiving end of the lackadaisical attitude of the tourism department. “The approach roads to the beaches are very narrow and they don’t even offer appropriate parking for visitors. The access to the beach isn’t well defined either and the extreme lack of facilities on the shore is apparent,” explained Piedade Colaco, the manager of a shack named Nikitsha on Velsao beach. “The tourism season in the state is already underway but for us, we have to wait till the whole of Goa gets crowded and only then the surplus tourists who seek isolated and quiet beaches begin to trickle in. Otherwise, apart from our yearly foreigner guests, we have no business and actually operate under a loss,” he added.
The promenade on Velsao beach, near the entrance, which was developed a few years ago partially collapsed two years back but the same hasn’t been fixed yet. Hence, in the absence of a proper access, people have stopped visiting the beach. Surprisingly, when Herald contacted the Village panchayat secretary of Velsao-Pale-Issorcim, Murlidhar Salgaonkar, he claimed that the panchayat hadn’t made any official request to the tourism department seeking infrastructure redevelopment and amenities.
Meanwhile, even the Arrossim beach has been facing similar neglect. The difference though is that Velsao doesn’t have any fiver star hotels and hence there is no business while Arrossim has a few starred hotels and hence the village does do a little bit of business. “All the three shacks operating get a little business due to the presence of five star hotels. Otherwise, there would be virtually nothing here. No tourists would come here due to the extreme lack of facilities,” said Yusuf Shaikh who works at Cecilia Batista, a shack at Arrossim.
It is left to be seen whether the concerned authorities take up development at these two beaches or if they focus solely on the beaches in North Goa.
