Team Herald
MARGAO: The South Goa Water Sports Association are up in arms over what they allege are plans of the government to privatise their business.
The Tourism Department had sent a notice to the water sports operators on Friday asking them to attend a training on Saturday, about the new queue system that will be implemented shortly.
It is expected that the new single-window system at beaches like Mobor in Cavelossim will be implemented from Monday onwards. However, the water sport operators have heavily criticised the move and said it would eat into their hard-earned income, and added that they have also been following a queue system at the beaches, which is in accordance with the law.
While Pele Fernandes from Benaulim pointed out that they are traditional fishermen who started this business on their own, he added that they had received an assurance from Tourism Minister Rohan Khaunte that such a plan would not be implemented. He also said the new system would create problems in how the water sport operators get their income too.
Domingos Rodrigues, the President of the Association also questioned why the government wants to train them about water sports and the queue system when they had done this on their own and have been doing so smoothly for the last two decades. He added that they have been paying tax and that such decisions portray them unfairly.
Roy Barretto from Cavelossim added that they will be sending their formal objections to the Tourism Department on Monday and oppose any such move to introduce such a new system, and recalled that Khaunte had promised to consult them before taking any decision in the matter.
