CALANGUTE: If you want to create a mess, with no hotel to go back to, then please pay up. That seems to be the message to tourists by the Calangute Panchayat.
The Calangute Panchayat’s proposal to levy entry tax on tourists without room reservations has been looked at with enthusiasm by some villagers, who are tired of the nuisance created by low spending tourists and disdain by others, who believe their panchayat is a web of corruption.
“Such check posts are in Mableshwar , Maharashtra and the local authority imposes taxes such as road passenger tax, pollution tax receipt, sanitary cess/entry fee are imposed,” reads the proposal submitted to the Collector, Director General of Police (DGP), Department of Home and Director of Tourism by the Calangute Panchayat.
“I have seen the proposal a few days back and it is under process,” said Dr Gite whilst not willing to lay out a timeline for the government response.
“The idea of charging a fee to enter the village is because of the nuisance created by tourists coming in by vehicles throughout the year. They cook on the roadside, litter the beach and leave surrounding areas with empty alcohol bottles and defecate and urinate in the open fields,” lamented Calangute Sarpanch Joseph Sequeira, explaining the reason behind Panchayat Resolution No (28) dated 7-06-2024.
The letter to the Collector dated 11-06-2024 entails that the government erect check posts at five entry points of the village- 1: Calangute – Saligao boundary near petrol pump;2: Calangute – Arpora boundary near Palmarinha resort; 3: Near Fat Fish restaurant near Agarvaddo; 4: Baga Beach riverside restaurant; and 5: boundary of Calangute- Candolim Village Panchayat Ximer.
Apart from erecting check posts, the proposal suggests that police personnel be deployed to assist the panchayat staff to collect fees.
“With most hotels and restaurants in Calangute being run by outsiders, for sure a counter for issuing fake hotel reservations will be set up and fake hotel reservations will be given at a premium to all wanting to enter without paying the fee and the idea of keeping the village clean will backfire,” said Walter lobo, social activist from the village. “Calangute is weeded in corruption and this proposal is just eyewash to distract the citizens from the truth,” he added.
High Court advocate Jose Filipe Melo feels reasonable restrictions can be imposed on the right to move freely in the Constitution, in the interest of public order, security of the State, or sovereignty and integrity of India.
“The panchayat faces a financial strain in keeping the place clean and it was decided that by imposing such a tax, our costs will be upstaged,” said Sequeira. “The money generated will be purely used to sanitise the place,” reiterated Sequeira.
“The mess we are in is because our social system is corrupted and the panchayat has a big role to play in that. The entry tax could be the creation of another basket for corruption,” muses Juliet Leitao.
“This suggestion has come from the biggest exploiters of the village,” reiterated Leitao.
