MARGAO: At the ‘Prashasan Tumchaya Dari’ function held in Salcete on Friday, water sports operators from the taluka made a passionate plea against the new queue system imposed on them by the Tourism Department. They argued that they were paying their taxes and complying with all government formalities, and that the
Department’s intervention was unwarranted.
It may be recalled that for months now, the South Goa Water Sport Operators Association have lodged multiple protests over the introduction of the queue system manned by Goa Electronic Limited (GEL), wherein all customers will have to make payments at the GEL counter instead of paying the water sport operators directly.
While this system was launched first at Cavelossim beach and has been set up at other beaches in Goa, the Salcete water sports operators have continued to oppose the move, supported by several MLAs of the South coastal belt.
However, Tourism Minister Rohan Khaunte insisted that the queue system would be implemented. On Friday, at the function held at the South Goa District Collectorate, Pele Fernandes, a water sports operator from Benaulim, directly addressed Tourism Minister Rohan Khaunte on the topic. Pele said that water sports operators are paying all their taxes and complying with other registration formalities but are against the forced GEL queue system. He said that it is the local fishing community that began water sports in Goa, and that their customers in Salcete were happy with the service.