the goan I network
PANAJI
After multiple twists and turns, the State tourism department finally set in motion the process for allotting licences to set up temporary structures including shacks and huts on designated beaches along Goa’s 105-kilometer coast bringing relief to hundreds of traditional shack operators.
The tourism department on Saturday called for applications to erect 346 temporary structures on the various beaches under a new ‘Beach Shack Policy’ recently notified which envisages issue of licences valid for three consecutive tourist seasons.
The applications accompanied by the stipulated affidavit and other documents stipulated in the notified shack policy have to be submitted to the Registration Facilitation Centre set up at the Paryatan Bhavan, at Patto in the capital city up to October 15. The terms and conditions as well as eligibility criterion for allotment of shack licences under the new policy have been uploaded on the tourism department’s official website www.goatourism.gov.in.
The new tourism season which kicked off earlier this week seemed gloomy for the traditional shack operators in Goa after the National Green Tribunal had restrained the State government from going ahead with implementation of the new ‘Shack Policy’ until the Coastal Zone Management Plans for the two districts of the State were finalised.
The process for finalisation of the two CZMPs, meanwhile was caught in a quagmire after greens raised a banner of revolt against it citing glaring bloomers in the draft plans prepared by the Chennai-based National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management (NCSCM).
The State government bowed to the demands of the greens and re-launched the process to prepare corrected plans with a schedule which would meet the NGT imposed deadline for the process of November 15.
However, the November 15 deadline was too deep into the tourism season and shack operators on Goa’s beaches, arguably the mainstay of tourism here, would have lost crucial weeks of business.
Taking cognizance, the State government moved the Bombay High Court against the NGT-imposed restrictions and got relief earlier this week, paving the way for the tourism department to set the shack allotment process in motion.
Meanwhile, the draw of lots for deciding successful shack
applicants and their locations is scheduled to be held on October 22 from 11 am onwards at Panaji in North Goa and Margao in South Goa.
Some nearly 350 shack licences are up for grabs, of which some 230-odd are on beaches in North Goa and around 108 are on the sands of the South Goa coast.
