Groups of semi-clad domestic tourists dancing to the merriment of loud music from their cars, quenching their thirst for alcohol and even cooking their own food along the roadsides is a picture all Goans are familiar with.
And there seems to be no one stopping them.
Welcome to Surla, a small village nestled between Goa and Karnataka. A place which has drawn parallels to picturesque Matheran in the state of Maharashtra. A cool terrain known for its lush and exotic greenery, making it an ideal hangout. A place where hordes of migrants from Karnataka and dipsomaniacs of all hues descend to quench their appetite for cheaper liquor and dance the night away.
Villagers at Surla have been exposed to all sorts of humiliation. The men and the women abused and embarrassed alike. Law and order is a far cry and there is nobody watching, except for the hapless people. The frustration of villagers has now reached a flashpoint. They decided to close their liquor shops, only to retract a day later and demand a police outpost. There are not many options at hand.
Surla has been ignored by far. The excise department has been issuing licences on a regular basis, but they haven’t really assessed the ground realities in the process. In 2017-18 there were as many as 280 new licences issued with 4 in Sattari taluka and a staggering 130 in the tourist-dominated Bardez. Surla liquor vendors have been allowed a free run. With migrants and tourists arriving in droves, these vendors have run beyond their capacity and have gone unchecked by the Excise.
In fact, the Excise and the police have also failed to keep checks on the liquor parties along the Chorla Ghats despite a direction to that effect from the Bicholim deputy collector, and have blamed Surla which is inter-connected.
While the government is planning to tighten its screws on tourists drinking in the open, the Surla case needs to be taken up on priority. Granting of liquor licenses cannot be bunched together with other areas and we need to tweak our laws keeping the ground realities of isolated and far-flung areas like Surla which are vulnerable to nuisances with the hands of law miles away.
Surla cannot be told to shut shop now. Discipline needs to be enforced in all possible ways and the Excise department should swing into action. A police outpost is an immediate need of the hour. We only hope the migrants don’t take the law into their own hands under the influence of alcohol and overpower the men in uniform since there is no other immediate help at hand.
