the goan I network
PANAJI
The Centre for Responsible Tourism, a body backed by Goa’s powerful Catholic Church, has outright rejected the draft of Goa Tourism Policy (Module IV) prepared by Goa government appointed consultant KPMG saying it needs to be scrapped and redrafted by adopting a consultative approach.
Addressing the media on Friday, Fr Freddy Braganza of CRT said the draft is neither a ‘plan’ nor ‘policy’ and is a document which is evidently prepared without consultations with the communities directly involved or affected by tourism in Goa.
He said, CRT has filed its objections with the tourism department before the November 12 deadline and demanded that a fresh process be initiated.
Questioning the proposal in the draft policy for an autonomous Goa Tourism Board, Fr Braganza said, the tourism department and Goa Tourism Development Corporation (GTDC) which is currently governing tourism itself need to be downsized.
“How can this Goa Tourism Board be claimed to be autonomous when the draft says the tourism minister will be its chairman,” Fr Braganza questioned, ridiculing the authors of the Draft Policy.
“It appears to be a subtle way to corporatize and privatize public resources. The Rs. 4.5 crores spent on the Spanish consultant firm KPMG to prepare this draft is injudicious and ultra-virus to the constitutional mandate of participatory planning,” he added.
CRT said, the 14 Finance Commission mandated participatory planning by the panchayats and civic bodies and the approach of the government to engage consultants to shoulder the responsibility is a contradiction which side-steps the Constitution.
“It lacks basic empirical data on tourism in Goa and fails to reflect the revenue generated and how
much of it is re-invested,” Fr Braganza said, adding that the document conceals more than it reveals.
CRT also took umbrage to the consultants using the ‘nature based tourism’ terminology and termed it a sinister move to by-pass environmental laws which specifically mention to ‘eco-tourism’ and not ‘nature based tourism’.
Fr Braganza said the Culture and Heritage tourism initiative in the draft policy seems to be an attempt to exercise control over village initiatives by proposing concepts of certification schemes and labels.
“With government control, the Culture and Heritage tourism which is currently people-driven will destroy everything that is so far protected and preserved by the local communities,” he said.
He also said that the proposals under Leisure and Entertainment envisages displacing locals to bring
international brands and investors, golf courses, destruction of the coastline by concretizing the waterfront, relocation of casinos and creating international class gaming cluster (offshore and onshore).
Fr Braganza said the Draft has no legal status as it has not been gazetted and demanded that the entire process be scrapped and re-started afresh.
A reasonable six-months time should be allotted to seek public responses and the fresh draft circulated to all panchayats and municipalities for deliberations at the grassroots level, he added.
