Panaji (Goa): In a high level review meeting chaired by Manohar Ajgaonkar, Minister for Tourism, Govt. of Goa today, the Department  of Tourism has been directed to formulate new rules and regulations  or amend existing  laws to give more teeth to the Department  to crack down  on unauthorized  and  illegal activities  taking place  along the beach belt of the State.

Ajgaonkar  has  cautioned the Department  of  Tourism  of fixing accountability and  responsibility on it for  ensuring  effective and strict implementation of  the rules  and  regulations to crack down  and also pre-empt  unauthorized activities  from taking place  whether by  shack operators,  water sports operators,  unauthorized vendors or any other tourism stakeholders.

A joint action committee is proposed to be  constituted  comprising of representatives from the  Department  of Tourism,  Goa Police, Captain of Ports and others to study  and frame  the necessary guidelines  needed to clamp down  on  nuisances  on the beach stretches along the coastline.

During the month of  May till date,  a total of  594  cases had been  booked by the  Goa Police  of  unauthorized  tourism activities  along the  beach belt as against 484 reported  between January to April 2017.

The Goa Police,  on Tuesday,  presented  this data to the  Minister for Tourism   as a follow up of action taken  from the  first review meeting chaired  by  Mr. Ajgaonkar in the first week of May.

Reviewing the case on the death of  the  jet ski operator  which  occurred last month at Varca, Mr. Ajgaonkar has directed the Department  of Tourism to suspend the license  of the  water sports  operator pending completion of the  hearing and  investigation  in the matter.  He has also  directed the Department  of Tourism  to complete the  hearing and  investigations in a time  bound  manner.

With regards to the  allotment  of Shacks for the forthcoming season,  Mr. Ajgaonkar has  again directed the Department  of Tourism  to  ensure  that all procedures  are completed  and  required  licenses and permissions  obtained  from the GCZMA at the earliest  so that  the final shack allotment process is completed  by August 15.

Since the contract period  of the existing beach cleaning contractor  is due to lapse in  a  couple of days, the Minister  for Tourism, Mr. Ajgaonkar has directed  the Department of Tourism   to expedite  the tendering process  for  appointment  of a new beach cleaning contractor.

Officials  who attended the meeting included SP North Karthik  kashyap,  Dy SP Mahesh  Gaonkar,  SDPO – Porvorim – Serafin Dias, SDPO – Quepem Sammy Tavares,   Octavio Rodrigues –  Dy  Captain of Ports,  Mr. Menino D’Souza – Director  of Tourism, Mr. Arvind Khutkar – OSD Dept. of Tourism

Team TNV