Officials from the tourism department and GTDC along with panch members of Poinguinim during an inspection at Galgibaga Beach.
In a bid to improve the tourism sector, officials from the tourism department and Goa Tourism Development Corporation (GTDC) officials on Saturday conducted an inspection of beaches in Canacona.
According to sources, a five-member team of GTDC, tourism department engineers and officers, along with a consultant visited most beaches, including Khola, Agonda, Palolem, Patnem, Galgibaga and Polem and verified the possibility of suitable land to set up changing rooms, toilets, parking lot and highmast lamps.
The officials also interacted with local bodies regarding availability of land on beaches and also sought a minimum of 120 sq. mtrs of land to provide a toilet and changing room block, wherever not available, besides the possibility of setting up of highmast lamps.
Incidentally, Palolem is the only beach which has a highmast lamp, a toilet block and a small area as a parking lot, while Agonda has only a highmast lamp.
At Galgibaga, the team observed that a highmast lamp is not recommended since the beach is a turtle nesting/reserved beach, but asked the Panchayat to provide 120 sq. mtrs of land either from Forest department or private to provide to provide a toilet and changing room block.
Sarpanchas or panchas representing panchayats concerned were present along with panchayat secretaries at their respective beaches.
It may be recalled that Tourism Minister Rohan Khaunte has sought the cooperation of coastal MLAs and Panchayats to boost the tourism sector under the Integrated Beach Management Policy of the State.
The minister informed officials concerned to personally inspect the beaches and to resolve issues causing a hindrance to tourism activities.
