Tourism industry stares at Rs 100 cr loss if night life shuts at 10 pm
Move ‘ridiculous’, complain tourists; CS promises to revisit issue
TEAM Herald
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PANJIM: Not only the people in the coastal areas earn from tourism but the State Government too gets total revenue of around Rs 1,400 cr per year from the tourism industry and considering that the elections would be held on March 3, Goa would lose out on a full month of February.
Experts say, the State could lose revenue of at least Rs 100 cr from excise, luxury tax, entertainment tax from bars, pubs, restaurants and even hotels that will suffer loss of room nights if these timings are adhered to.
An owner of a popular night club, who spoke to Herald on condition of anonymity, said “our business starts about 10.30 pm and with this notification we cannot run our business and it virtually means we will have to shut down for a month”.
He said that instead of closing the clubs and bars by 11 pm, the authorities must instead improve the monitoring system.
“The move will drive away tourists from Goa and we will be virtually left begging”, the owner said.
Amit Agarwal, a tourist from Delhi, who is in Goa to spend a long weekend (thanks to Republic Day holiday), says, “I am shocked to hear this that the clubs and bars will shut at 11 pm. This is ridiculous, we come here to enjoy and in turn contribute to the revenue of the Goa Government”.
Excise Commissioner P S Reddy tried to wash off his hands off the controversy saying he isn’t involved in any such decision.
“The orders have been issued by the district collectors and my department has nothing to do with it. The recent excise raids are only to ensure free and fair elections which are not connected with this notification”, he told Herald.
Asked what could be the revenue loss to the Government with the implementation of this rule, he replied, “I think from excise point of view we may lose at least Rs 10 cr if not more as last year in February we had collected Rs 12 cr during this month. Besides he said there are other taxes too which the Commercial Taxes Department will lose”.
Chief Secretary Sanjay Srivastava when contacted said that the Government is seized of the matter.
“Some people have met me regarding the notification and we are seized of the matter”, he said adding, “we will take it up with the Chief Electoral Officer and see what can be done”.
