MARGAO
The sarpanchas of Cavelossim and Colva on Wednesday knocked on the doors of Tourism Minister Rohan Khaunte with a plea to ensure the beach belt is kept clean with proper garbage lifting and deploy tourist police to keep the migrant hawkers at bay.
The duo also made a strong case to bring down quality events down South, along the Salcete coastal belt, to bring in quality tourists.
Cavelossim sarpanch Dixon Vaz and his Colva counterpart Suzie Fernandes called on the Tourism Minister and invited him to visit the beach to resolve the perennial issues facing the tourism belt.
Dixon informed that Colva is known the world over as an iconic beach, while Cavelossim has been the home for high-end tourists over the years.
“We called on the Tourism minister since our beach belt is facing burning issues, including the absence of proper beach cleaning, lack of illumination, migrant hawkers etc. Yesterday, we had a meeting with our Benaulim MLA Venzy Viegas and today we called on the Tourism Minister with our issues,” he said.
Saying that Cavelossim is known as a virgin beach, bringing high-end tourists, Dixon said the time has come for the government to get good events in South Goa. “The government is paying all the attention to the North. South Goa has been a family destination. We can promote South by getting good events such as a Jazz festival, seafood festival, wine and cheese festival besides beach and football festival,” he said.
Saying that the beach belt is being invaded by the migrant hawkers, Dixon said since the local police cannot do the policing on the beach, the Tourism Minister has been told to revive the dedicated Tourist police to keep the migrants at bay.
Colva sarpanch Suzie Fernandes said the Tourism Minister had visited Colva before the new body had taken charge. “Colva which is known as the iconic beach is facing the migrant hawkers' issue. The hawkers harass the visitors to the beach. Our panchayat had tried to deploy private security, but the menace of hawkers continues unabated,” she said.
