PANJIM: Amidst growing anger and frustration of the shack owners at the massive delay in the allotment of shacks which was done last week, the Chief Minister has now “allowed” allottees to demarcate their shacks based on the previous year’s demarcation.
On Thursday all Goa shack owners gathered outside the Chief Minister’s residence and demanded the execution of a previous demarcation plan. Their demand also includes reverting to the old shack establishment method based on geo-mapping. They stated that unless the plan is rolled back, shacks won’t open this season.
Following the appeal from the shack owners, the Chief Minister authorised allottees to resume activities immediately, aligning with the previous shack policy effective from today.
While the decision goes against the policy of allotment and demarcation based on the beach carrying capacity of each beach, the massive delay in receiving the beach carrying capacity report from the Environment department has forced the government’s hand, in the wake of growing resentment among shack owners.
Whispers in the corridors of the Tourism Department point to “undue delay” by the Environment Department in submitting the beach carrying capacity report; shack spaces were supposed to be demarcated based on this report. The Environment Minister did not respond to several calls made by the O Heraldo reporter to get his views on this.
Tourism Minister Rohan Khaunte said, “As soon as we received the Beach Carrying Capacity Report from the Environment Department we moved ahead with the allotment process of shacks.”
However, officials on the department admitted that since the report was received only in October, there was hardly any time to assess it and do the allotment and demarcation strictly on the report’s findings.
The Tourism Department was expecting the beach carrying capacity report in June. In fact, the Tourism Department received a Beach Capacity report in October.
TWO-AND-HALF MONTHS OF BUSINESS LOST, TRADITIONAL SHACK OWNERS DISCOURAGED FROM TAKING SHACK ALLOTMENT
However, the huge delay in the allotment of shacks and demarcation of shack areas has not yet happened resulting in a huge delay in the beginning of business. President of Shack Owners Welfare Society Cruz Cardozo said, “This is harassment. The Shack Policy envisages the allotting of shacks and opening business in September. However, two months of business are already been lost and the remaining days of November are going to end soon. Many traditional shack owners felt discouraged from taking their allotments.”
Traditional shack owner Manuel Cardozo from Calangute said that the shack owners had lost a lucrative festival season due to the delay.
“Foreign tourists have started arriving in ships and charters too will arrive soon. However, the demarcation of several shacks still remains pending,” he said.
Another traditional shack owner John Lobo said, “Notices to shacks, reports of Goan waters being polluted are detrimental to the preservation and growth of the already competitive tourism business. The delay is another jolt to the already existing troubles in shack business.”
President of the Travel and Tourism Association of Goa Nilesh Shah said that the allotment had to start early and the delay is definitely hampering the tourism business.