MARGAO
Beleaguered shack operators on Wednesday said they would make a case before the government to waive off license fee for the coming tourism season with the Covid pandemic disrupting their business activity for the second successive year.
President of Goa Shack Owners Society, Cruz Cardozo said the shack owners would soon submit a memorandum to Tourism Minister Manohar Ajgaonkar and will also call on Chief Minister Pramod Sawant with a plea to waive off the license fee for the coming tourism season.
He told the members of the media fraternity here on Wednesday that the shack owners ran into heavy losses due to the Covid situation. “There were many shack owners who did not put up shacks even after the payment of fees since there was no business in times of Covid. And, those who went ahead and erected shacks had to suffer heavy losses”, he said.
Cruz added; “No doubt, the government had charged 50 per cent of the licenses fee, but the prevailing situation came as a big setback to the shack owners. There were no charter flights and we have to bank only on the domestic tourists. The shack owners receive maximum business form the charter tourists, but since there were no charters this year, many of us have suffered losses”.
He said the last two tourism seasons has seen reduction in the shack business by around 60 per cent. “There were many who preferred not to put up shacks in view of the not-good scenario, while there were others who put up shacks just to save their license”, he said, while saying they will submit a memorandum to the Chief Minister and the Tourism Minister seeking waiver of the license fee in the coming tourism season.
