Drugs and prostitution continue to rule the tourism industry with the illicit trade openly sold to youth and tourists along the northern coastal belt which is infamous for such activities. Herald’s investigation unearthed the dark side of life in this tourist hot spot which is clearly in contradiction to the tall claims of the government about cleansing the State of the menace.
The racketeers have expanded without any fear of the law or disturbance. Drug dealers lure their customers by addressing them randomly into conversations to later strike a deal. These deals are done unambiguously as an African dealer was caught doing so with the Herald team. “Hey bro, you want some stuff? You can get it cheap,” he told us while we walked through Calangute beach.
These Africans are found riding rental bikes or driving yellow-plated cars in the same lanes within a span of a few minutes, raising suspicion that something is certainly wrong. But no one questions them.
Similarly, the prostitution racket is also evident with girls who have been pushed into this racket and transgenders approaching tourists at beaches. We also noticed that once a sex racketeer is assured that his target is a non-suspicious character, he approaches with photo albums of girls into this illicit trade. The deal is finalized, provided the pimp is satisfied with the money paid for the selected girl, and a ‘safe place’ is chosen.
The locals claim that without drugs and prostitution, a majority of tourism related business along the coastal area is of no use.
The shack owners are also raged over additional charges towards installing chemical toilets, CCTV cameras, and payments to obtain various certificates from the concerned departments, which sums up to almost Rs one lakh.
“The Government has imposed these fees without taking any of us into consideration. All our income goes into paying taxes. What are we suppose to earn,” a Calangute-based shack owner questioned.
The government discontinuing permits for signboards of shacks provided by other companies, nil facilities for the shack owners have incensed shack operators. “The big tourism stakeholders like the hotel industry is given importance. The government is only of the hotels, for the hotels and by the hotels,” another alleged.
