Team Herald
PANJIM: The Shack Owners Welfare Society has appealed to Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant to exempt the “financially drained” shack operators from putting up the temporary structures for the current season with no penalty.
Quite a few shack owners have expressed their inability to put up shacks in the present scenario while some have desired to commence the process in the ongoing month or January 2021, owing to lack of funds.
“Some of our stakeholders are left with no option than to opt out from putting up shacks for this touristic season, that is, October 2020 to May 2021. Our humble request if to permit some of our shack owners to opt out from putting up beach shacks for the current touristic season and not to penalise them for not putting up the beach shacks and not paying the necessary fees to the government,” reads a two-page letter to the Chief Minister, Tourism Minister Manohar Ajgaonkar, Ports and Tourism Departments, by association president Cruz Cardozo.
The association has also sought permission to allow those shack operators desiring to put up shacks in December/January stating, they will complete the necessary formalities.
“It is financially not feasible to pay all the fees to erect beach shacks as the minimum expenditure would be at least Rs 2.50 lakh, some of the shack owners are finding it difficult to maintain their families’ expenses in such difficult times,” it further said.
As such, the association has requested to issue licences to those who have paid the fees although they have not set up shacks till date. It also seeks approval on humanitarian grounds to allow operators set up the shacks in February.
Several shack operators have complained that their employees, most of whom, are from other parts of India have not returned and the former are not in good financial position as they exhausted their resources while taking care of their employees during the lockdown.
