The tourism department’s decision to launch a mobile app in a month to tackle illegalities on beaches appears to be a farce and an eyewash. Violations along the beaches are no secret. The disorder and chaos are so rampant that it has become part and parcel of the system. It’s because violators hold sway over law enforcers and rules and regulations are flouted with sheer impunity. Given this background, how does an app help?
The shack policy which was unveiled last year stipulates stringent rules and regulations for shack owners. There are clauses on bio-digester toilets, garbage segregation, CCTVs and restrictions on beach beds and tables. But the document largely remains on paper, and yet again enforcement fails miserably. The countless beach beds, tables and umbrellas, some extending up to the waters, continue to block the free access to the shore. It’s life as usual for Lamanis who hassle tourists in a bid to sell their wares. And this remains the order of the day and night.
Buoyed by the success of the sentinel scheme, South Goa District Collector, Anjali Sehrawat, had last year proposed a similar initiative to crack down on violations along the beach belts. A host of questions were flagged with the tourism department officials, but no concrete answers were forthcoming.
The tourist security force which was constituted in December 2010 with a singular motive of keeping vigil over beaches also failed. The force was subsequently disbanded in 2012 by the Manohar Parrikar government. Some of the 15 vehicles sourced from the World Travel and Tourism Council are abandoned and rusting in pieces at various locations. A Whatsapp initiative launched by Ajgaonkar to ensure that garbage is promptly attended to by contractors too flopped because there was no monitoring mechanism in place.
The traffic sentinel scheme worked because it helped police track violations which are beyond their reach. An app to report violations on beaches doesn’t make much sense if there is no serious intent to clean the mess which is starring at officials every single day. Shack owners and tourism stakeholders are aware of the dark underbelly of beachside businesses. The web of corruption is deeply entwined and requires much more than an app to cleanse the system. The moolah that flows in during shack allotment is known to those in business, and so is the price paid for setting up additional beach beds and tables. Corruption doesn’t end with the constable who does the rounds on beaches, it runs all the way up to those sitting in plush air-conditioned cabins.
The tourism department cannot come up with half-baked solutions like an app or a Whatsapp service because it will not change anything. If there is a genuine concern about cleansing the system, the government has to be honest about uprooting corruption and stop giving excuses.
