MARGAO
What has stopped successive Tourism ministers from cracking a whip against the illegal migrant hawkers at the world-class Colva beach or along Salcete coastal belt in recent times?
Be it former tourism minister Manohar Babu Ajgaonkar or his successor, Rohan Khaunte, they had thundered and pledged to rid the iconic beach of the mushrooming hawkers. One has often heard of the Tourism ministers saying there’s no place for hawkers or public drinking along the State’s beach stretch, and Colva is no exception.
The ground reality, however, remains unchanged, with hawkers having a field day, making merry on the beach belt right under the nose of the tourism officials and the Men-in-Uniform. The recent Tourism department’s circular banning hawking and open drinking having no impact on the ground is evident by the number of hawkers invading the Colva beach almost every day, throwing up a host of questions “ Do these hawkers indulge in the illegal activity with patronage and league with the men-in-uniform, or is it simply that the police have no answer to tackle the menace for want of dedicated manpower?
When Tourism Minister Rohan Khaunte descended on the Colva-Benaulim beach belt with local MLA Venzy Viegas in tow a couple of months ago, he came across hawkers having a field day.
Question the Colva police over the hawker menace and apt comes a reply that the police do carry out bandobast duties on the beach belt to keep the hawkers at bay.
A police official, however, pointed out that the government should beef up the infrastructure and logistics to maintain 24X7 vigilance on the beach. With no dedicated tourist police, the Colva police are left with no option but to draft regular policemen for beach patrolling, which has failed to achieve the desired result.
“The police stations having jurisdiction over the beach belt should have a dedicated tourist police cell a la Traffic Cell to rein in on illegal hawkers and open drinking. Otherwise, the police will only end up playing hide and seek with the hawkers,” remarked a police official.
Cavelossim sarpanch Dixon Vaz said the issue of hawking and other activities needs to be tackled seriously by the Tourism department.
“Recently, I got the police department to apprehend a couple of hawkers doing illegal activities on the Cavelosism beach. They were all later produced before the Magistrate and bound over,” he said.
Dixon added: “The Tourism department has a key role to play in ensuring the safety of visitors. In the fitness of things, the department should re-invest in tourism-related infrastructure and logistics like tourist police for the safety of visitors. A dedicated tourist police force may be an answer to the hawker menace and open drinking.”
