MARGAO
The world-famous Colva beach played host to thousands of visitors on Sunday, signaling the arrival of domestic tourists in the festive season -- ringing in good news for the local tourism industry.
What, however, may come as a big concern is that the visitors were found throwing the Covid social distancing norms to the winds with no authority worth its name around to get the visitors comply with the pandemic guidelines.
A visit to Colva on Sunday evening revealed that thousands of domestic tourists descended on the iconic beach, with locals saying that this is perhaps for the first time in the COVID-19 pandemic that domestic tourists have descended in large numbers.
While the arrival of the tourists may certainly ring in good news for the local tourism industry, which has suffered the brunt of the COVID-19 pandemic, many have questioned the absence of the local law enforcing agencies to enforce social distancing norms on the beach belt.
Most of the visitors were found on the beach without the mandatory face masks, nor was the social distancing maintained by them, throwing up a question why the Tourism department or the police has not put in place an awareness mechanism wherein the visitors are warned before hand to comply with face masks and social distancing norms.
In fact, many a local who made their presence felt on the beach wondered whether the visitors are exempted from the social distancing norms, while the government has warned locals of punishment with Rs 200 penalty for not wearing face masks.
“It’s indeed a good news for the local tourism industry that visitors from other parts of the country have started visiting the beach. But, the district Collector or the police should ensure that the social distancing norms or norms on wearing face masks are not thrown to the winds”, remarked a local.
