CALANGUTE: The long-pending demand by beach shack operators for a single-window system to get the various licences and permissions needed to operate a shack has again been overlooked by the state government in the new 2023-26 beach shacks policy, stakeholders said.
As the process to get the various licences/NOCs, etc after beach shack owners get the licence from the tourism department, is a time-consuming process, shack owners have for years been demanding that the state government set up a single-window system. After the shack licence, they have to apply for a NOC from their respective village panchayats only after which they can apply for a temporary excise licence, electricity connection, FDA approval, GSPCB consent-to-operate, health department, etc.
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“By the time you get all the licences, approvals and NOCs, 40-45 days are gone, which is half the peak season. After you get the tourism department shack licence, you have to get the village panchayat NOC which takes 8-10 days. Only after you get panchayat NOC, you can apply for electricity connection, then comes health which takes another 10 days. Only after you have health NOC you can apply for FDA. It’s not like an all-in-one licence,” Manuel Cardozo, president of the Goan Traditional Shacks Owners Association, said.
“By the time you get all the licences it is mid-November. It will be a big help if there’s a single-window system. Not only shacks, but it’s the need of the hour for the entire hospitality industry in Goa,” Cardozo said.
“We were assured that the tourism department would implement a single-window system when we had discussed changing the beach shacks policy from one year to three years seven-eight years ago, but it is not yet implemented,” John Lobo, general secretary of the Shacks Owners Welfare Society (SOWS), said.
“Instead of facilitating ease of doing business, every time a new shack policy is made, there are only fresh conditions and fees added,” shack owners said.
