MARGAO
Has Tourism Minister Rohan Khaunte and his officials succeeded in stopping open drinking on the beach belt or keeping the migrant hawkers at bay?
A visit to the Colva beach on Sunday answered the question in the negative. While it is now clear that the migrant hawkers make their presence only during certain times, with the panchayat deploying its manpower to rein in the illegal hawkers, there seemed no stop to the public drinking at the world-famous beach.
The Goan team on Sunday saw a couple coolly enjoying a drink as evidenced by the fact that a beer can and a bottle were seen around them at the beach. There was no police personnel seen around on the beach to check violation of public drinking rules and to keep the hawkers at bay, throwing up a question or two over the seriousness of the Tourism department in addressing the menace.
During his visit to the world-famous Colva beach, Tourism Minister Rohan Khaunte had pledged to crack a whip against the migrant hawkers and to stop liquor drinking on the beach.
This was followed by Tourism Director Nikhil Desai’s circular wherein the department had banned open drinking on the beach and termed hawking as illegal.
Sadly, neither the Tourism Minister’s instructions have brought any change on the ground, nor the Tourism Director has been able to stop public drinking on the beach belt.
Recently, the sarpanchas of Colva and Cavelossim Suzie Fernandes and Dixon Vaz had called on the Tourism Minister with a plea to tone up the infrastructure and logistics to stop illegal activities on the beach.
The two sarpanchas had stated that they are looking forward to the Tourism Department putting a stop to the illegal activities on the beach belt.
