PANAJI
Goa Tourism Development Corporation (GTDC) Chairman Ganesh Gaonkar has indicated that recent controversy surrounding trips to Dudhsagar Falls may have been politically motivated.
Gaonkar claimed that some political aspirants could have been trying to stir up discord while citing that the GTDC counter and e-bookings had been running smoothly since January 2024.
“The GTDC counter and online bookings for Dudhsagar have been running since January 2024. If the jeep operators had accepted Chief Minister Pramod Sawant’s proposal at that time, each of the 431 jeeps could have completed at least 15 trips per day by now,” he said in an interview with Prudent.
After protests spanning several days, Dudhsagar tour operators called off their agitation last Saturday. In a meeting with the CM, they were assured of reduction in fee upto Rs 200. The reduction will depend on the footfalls for a month. Sawant however asserted that the status quo for the GTDC counter and online booking would be maintained.
Gaonkar also stated that CM assured jeep operators of a one-month review period with a probable drop in tariffs if visitor numbers decline. “If there are fewer guests during the month-long operations, then the charges will be revised. One can clearly see who is creating issues and for what reasons. There is no constituency-wise problem but rather, some aspirants saw an opportunity to create an issue out of it,” Gaonkar added.
Even before the official start of the operations, the operators began opposing GTDC’s Rs 177 charge per visitor to Dudhsagar Falls and the Forest Department’s fee increase from Rs 100 to Rs 150. They claimed that with an additional Rs 200 guide charge per person, the revised rates totalled Rs 527 per visitor, which would affect footfalls.
The tour operators also demanded GTDC’s counter’s closure stating online bookings be handled solely by their association.
Gaonkar stated that the increase in jeeps was his initiative after the closure of mining in 2012, in a bid to provide livelihood to locals who were affected by the former business.
“I had proposed to then CM Manohar Parrikar to increase the jeeps from 98, to which he agreed and the numbers spiked to 431. Everything else including permissions from relevant authorities was sorted and the business ran smoothly…” he added.
