MARGAO
Criticising Mormugao Port Trust’s insistence on obtaining its NOC to set up shacks on the Baina beach as part of a game plan to bring outsiders into the Goan shack business, operators under the banner of Goa Shack Owners Society has warned that they will oppose the move tooth and nail.
Society president Cruz Cardozo said shack owners will not allow outsiders to run the seasonal business if the government thinks that by insisting on MPT’s NOC they can bring Delhiwallas to control the Goan shack tourism business.
Cardozo told The Goan on Saturday that the society has already told the Tourism Director to convey to the government the shack owner’s objection to MPT’s NOC to set up the shacks on the beach belt.
“The MPT has no control over the shack owners. For us, only the Goa government and the Director of Tourism matter. The shacks have been approved after a nod from the Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority. The shacks come directly under the Tourism department and the GCZMA,” he said, adding that the MPT has no say on setting up of beach shacks.
Cardozo demanded that the Goa government, including Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and Minister Milind Naik, clarify their stand on the MPT’s insistence on its NOC to set up beach shacks. “A delegation of the shack owners’ society will call on the Chief Minister in the coming week. We will also ask minister Milind Naik to accompany the delegation to the Chief Minister,” he added.
Cardozo has warned that any plan to get the Delhi businessmen to control the Goan shack business will never succeed, saying the local stakeholders along with the people of Goa will never allow beach shacks run by outsiders in the state.
“Tourists come to do business because of Goan hospitality. It is now apparent that outsiders now have hatched a plan to come into the state and control the shack business. I am sure even international tourists will not come down to Goa if the shacks are controlled and run by outsiders,” he said.
