MARGAO
Visitors to the world famous Colva beach on Sunday came across ornamental lamp posts without the lamps.
And, at the neighbouring village of Benaulim, the Tourism Facilitation Centre lay shut down, with locals maintaining they have never seen the centre open after
its inauguration earlier this year.
The ornamental lamps dotting the Colva beach square and the Tourist Facilitation Centre, one at Colva and Benaulim, were put in place at the tourist beach spots as per the centrally-funded scheme for the beautification of the beaches.
Questions are being raised whether the lamps on the ornamental lamp posts were removed after the media reported that they have been falling down like hairpins and post-electrocution incident at the Colva beach.
Indeed, when the new Tourism Minister Rohan Khaunte had visited Colva beach a month ago, his attention was drawn to the ornamental lamps dotting the beach square and along the creek, with many lamps missing from the poles. The locals had also drawn his attention to the incidents wherein the lamps had fallen down at the beach square, narrowly missing tourists visiting the world famous beach.
No tourism official was around to answer the question whether the department has got the lamps removed to ensure the safety of the visitors or whether there are any plans to replace them with lamps which will withstand the winds.
The same is the story with regards to the Tourist Facilitation Centres set up at Colva and Benaulim, with both the centres lying shut down for reasons best known to the Tourism department.
In fact, Union Tourism Minister Kishan Reddy had expressed his concern over the huge expenditure on the Tourism Facilitation Centres set up at Colva and Benaulim, even going to
the extent of saying the amount utilised on the centres could have been spent to upgrade amenities to the visiting tourists at both the beaches.
