MARGAO: Tourism Minister Dilip Parulekar has slammed opposition to Defence Expo at Betul saying, “Attempts are being made to oppose the expo just for the sake of opposing.”
He said the opposition to the Defence Expo is uncalled for since the land would be given to the organizers only for 6 days.
Addressing the press at the launch of E-registration facility of the Tourism Department at the South Goa Collectorate on Tuesday, Parulekar said, “The Defence Expo will attract lakhs of visitors to Goa. Initially, there was a huge opposition to Sunburn in Goa. But later, the benefits that Goa is getting from the event are noteworthy.”
“There is lot of land in South Goa which can be developed for Tourism. But some NGO’s have filed cases against land use and the whole development plan has come to a halt. For example, there is lot of land at Colva Circuit, but some NGOs have filed cases in the Green Tribunal and have stopped the works. The beaches coming under Colva Circuit were supposed to be developed. But the cases pending before the Green Tribunal have prevented the same,” Parulekar said.
He said 6.5 million tourists visited Goa last tourist season and that he expects 8-million tourist footfall this season.
The Department of Tourism opened a registration facilitation centre at the Collectorate South Goa, Mathany Saldanha Administrative Complex to issue e-registration certificates for tourism trades and services.
