PANAJI
Even as the the first charter flight has touched down in Goa bringing in more than 500 tourists to the state marking the beginning of the tourism season, private shack operators are still struggling to secure licences for the season.
Speaking to The Goan, Dharmesh Saglani the president of the All Goa Private Property Shack and Huts Owners Association said they were hoping that the licences would be issued by July
as unlike earlier there were no legal hurdles to give the licences.
"So far not a single private shack has been given a licence. Inspections by the GCZMA are in progress. Those whose inspections are completed should be given the licences immediately while the inspection process should be completed quickly so that we can erect the shacks and huts by Diwali," Saglani told The Goan.
"Legally all issues are cleared, the ball is in the government's court. We are only waiting for our licences," Saglani said.
He said that with private shack operators requiring permissions from fourteen different authorities licensing is often a cumbersome process.
Private shacks, unlike those set up on public beaches, are set up on private lands in the vicinity of beaches and do not come under the ambit of the beach shack policy governed by the Tourism Department and renewed every three years.
The private shack and hut operators have been demanding that they secure a private beach shack policy that will allow them to set up businesses for a stretch of five years, especially since the Union Government's Ministry of Environment and Forests has permitted them to keep their temporary structures without dismantling during the monsoon season.
"Two demands have been pending, that there be a single window clearance for shacks and secondly that a private shack policy be notified," Saglani said. "Hopefully this year when they give us licences they give us for five years," he said.
Private shacks were in the cross hairs of the National Green Tribunal which had cancelled all licences granted by the Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority after the GCZMA disobeyed an order from the NGT to complete a study on the beach carrying capacity before granting fresh licences.
The beach carrying capacity study has since been completed by the National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management. It is this study that will now have to be followed by the GCZMA for granting private shack licences.
Even as the the first charter flight has touched down in Goa bringing in more than 500 tourists to the state marking the beginning of the tourism season, private shack operators are still struggling to secure licences for the season.
Speaking to The Goan, Dharmesh Saglani the president of the All Goa Private Property Shack and Huts Owners Association said they were hoping that the licences would be issued by July
as unlike earlier there were no legal hurdles to give the licences.
"So far not a single private shack has been given a licence. Inspections by the GCZMA are in progress. Those whose inspections are completed should be given the licences immediately while the inspection process should be completed quickly so that we can erect the shacks and huts by Diwali," Saglani told The Goan.
"Legally all issues are cleared, the ball is in the government's court. We are only waiting for our licences," Saglani said.
He said that with private shack operators requiring permissions from fourteen different authorities licensing is often a cumbersome process.
Private shacks, unlike those set up on public beaches, are set up on private lands in the vicinity of beaches and do not come under the ambit of the beach shack policy governed by the Tourism Department and renewed every three years.
The private shack and hut operators have been demanding that they secure a private beach shack policy that will allow them to set up businesses for a stretch of five years, especially since the Union Government's Ministry of Environment and Forests has permitted them to keep their temporary structures without dismantling during the monsoon season.
"Two demands have been pending, that there be a single window clearance for shacks and secondly that a private shack policy be notified," Saglani said. "Hopefully this year when they give us licences they give us for five years," he said.
Private shacks were in the cross hairs of the National Green Tribunal which had cancelled all licences granted by the Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority after the GCZMA disobeyed an order from the NGT to complete a study on the beach carrying capacity before granting fresh licences.
The beach carrying capacity study has since been completed by the National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management. It is this study that will now have to be followed by the GCZMA for granting private shack licences.
