PANAJI
With lanes leading to some of North Goa’s preferred beach hotspots like Baga, Candolim, Calangute, Anjuna and further north at Arambol and Morjim choc-o-block, the Goa Police are on their toes regulating the flow of traffic and policing the waves of tourists thronging there as Goa rings in the New Year.
Checking drunken driving is top the to-do list of the men-in-uniform.
According to Superintendent of Police (North Goa), Nidhin Valsan, IPS, in the Candolim-Calangute belt alone police personnel have been deployed equipped with as many as 80 alcometers to check those driving under the influence of alcohol and prevent mishaps.
He said, in addition to the personnel attached to the police stations in the jurisdiction, an additional force of 300 men has been deployed there.
Overall, the entire northern belt will be policed by a 1,500-strong force to ensure better mobility and also check for drug use, he added.
Valsan also said, special teams with a mix of personnel drawn from the local police station, the Crime Branch and forensic experts are also deployed to keep a hawk-eye vigil on consumption as well as drug trade.
Meanwhile, Indian tourists seem to have preferred Goa, especially the North, to ring in the New Year. Calangute beach was a sea of people eager to watch the final sunset of 2023 from the sands of the ‘Queen’ of Goa’s famous beaches.
While this augurs well for a part of Goa’s crucial tourism sector, another section of Goans aren’t amused by the invasion of droves of tourists. In the capital city, for instance, a scene captured on lens at the central ‘Abbé Faria square’ adjacent to the old Secretariat depicted some tourists sleeping in the open where washed clothes are seen hung out to dry.
The photo is going viral after a Panjimite posted it on social media saying “Abbé Faria square turned to Dhobi Talao...sad...and nobody can do anything about it...my Panjim...becoming supersmart...”
The cultural mismatch of some of the tourists has been an issue for much debate here in recent years, ever since a video of a tourist urinating from the window of a moving bus had gone viral on the internet a few years ago. Issues like drinking in open public places, groups of tourists cooking were in the recent past tackled either with a tweak in the law or extra vigil by the law enforcing agencies.
