PANAJI
The Goa cabinet on Wednesday approved the new ‘beach shack policy 2023-26’ after amending the provisions over which the shack operators’ associations had raised a hue and cry, including the upper age limit of 60 years.
The shack policy with the modifications was the only major point on the agenda of Wednesday’s cabinet meeting, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said while briefly interacting with the media while leaving the Secretariat and boarding his car.
Sawant said, the shack policy has been modified after the discussions with the representatives of the shack associations.
“We have made the changes in the shack policy as per the discussions with them. The age criterion has been relaxed,” Sawant said.
The representative associations of the shack operators had strongly opposed some of the changes in the new policy proposed by Tourism Minister Rohan Khaunte, especially the age criterion which disqualified those who attained 60 years of age from applying for a shack licence.
Another bone of contention was the 90-10 ratio of allocation for experienced shack operators and newcomers respectively.
After discussions with the representatives of the shack associations, Sawant had agreed to their demands and accordingly the allocation ratio is modified to 80-10-10: 00 per cent to those with five and more years of experience, 10 per-cent for those with 1-4 years experience, and 10 per-cent to freshers.
At the discussions Sawant had with the shack operator associations, Tourism Minister Rohan Khaunte, Environment Minister Nilesh Cabral and officials of the Tourism and Environment ministry were present.
