MAPUSA
Upset over show-cause notices issued to some shack owners, the Shack Owners Welfare Society (SOWS) on Friday threatened to shut down all the shacks in the State and protest if the Tourism Department does not stop harassing local shack operators doing business in the coastal belt.
The shack operators also said that the tourism department’s policy was favouring outsiders to take over shack business and slammed the government for its anti-Goan stance.
“If the tourism department suspends licences of shack owners then we will close down all the shacks in Goa. The government was using different yardsticks while taking action against illegalities. Some hotels and guesthouses were openly discharging sewerage without constructing proper soakpits but no notices are issued to them but the shack owners are targeted,” said John Lobo, Secretary of SOWS.
The shack operators under the banner of Shack Owners Welfare Society held an extra-ordinary general body meeting in the Calangute panchayat hall to discuss harassment meted out to them.
Continuing, Lobo said the shack owners were paying hefty licence fees and yet were facing harassment from the department officials.
He also said that the new tourism policy wanted the Goans to sell their shack business to outsiders.
“After taxi operators this is the only business that is left with Goans. They want it to be sold to outsiders. They want it to be auctioned. We will not allow this. We will see that these shacks remain with Goans,” he said.
The President of SOWS, Cruz Cardozo urged all shack owners to remain united and fight for the withdrawal of the show-cause notice.
“In spite of the popular Calangute and Candolim beaches, the tourism department is unable to provide facility of water and toilet on these beaches. This is a shameful act. They do a lot of study tours. But till today, they are not aware what we Goans want. They only want to know what outsiders like five-star hoteliers want,” Cardozo said.
In response to a public interest litigation, the Tourism Department submitted that about 23 bore wells were illegally dug and installed around shacks permitted by the department.
The high court then directed the department to conduct a joint inspection along with the WRD department, Goa State Pollution Control Board and the Goa State Coastal Zone Management Authority along Candolim and Calangute coastal belt and issue a show-cause notice to those shacks that have constructed soak pits or bore wells.
