Team Herald
CALANGUTE: The Calangute coastal belt witnessed a mad rush of tourists on Saturday on account of an ‘Eid holiday weekend’. Vehicles with registration numbers from across India – mostly Maharashtra and Karnataka – were seen everywhere, including church parking lots.
Despite the huge crowd, business was slow for the locals as the tourists preferred to cook their own food and stay in cars or buses instead of hotels. And as usual, they cooked in an open space, ate their meals and littered the place. Some tourists visited the ghaddas for tea, but only to minimize their spending.
There was also a lot of chaos at the beaches. More so on Calangute beach. Tourists swam in danger zones without paying the slightest attention to the warnings of the Drishti life guards and beach patrol police, who manned the beach for tourists’ safety. At times, the tourists were seen arguing with the life guards over the latter’s instructions.
“We are doing our duty of warning the tourists in order to save their lives, but at times they arrogantly confront us. After that, we just leave them alone. There is no point in warning or guiding them. They want to enjoy in their own way and feel that their enjoyment is suppressed by our instructions,” said a Drishti life guard.
The life guards should have the backing of the beach patrol police, but the same is lacking on our beaches. The police teams are in one corner, while the life guards are at the other end. Better communication between the two could help control an unruly crowd on our beaches.
