MAPUSA
The State Cabinet has decided to waive off 50 percent of license fees for shacks on the beach in the new tourism season, which is expected to kick off in October amid the third wave scare.
“The Cabinet has approved to reduce the license fees for beach shacks and deck beds by 50 per cent under the tourism shack policy of 2022,” Chief Minister, Pramod Sawant said.
He said the government was aware of the impact caused by the Covid-19 restrictions on tourism stakeholders and therefore did not want to add to their burden.
The Shack Owners Welfare Society had made several representations to the government about the slowdown effect on the tourism sector and appealed for several reliefs.
The tourism department issues permission to set up 260 shacks in North and around 96 in South Goa which are renewed every year.
The CM has also said that the Cabinet on Thursday ratified the decision to provide free digital meters along with data services for one year costing approximately Rs 11,250 per year to all taxi operators in the State.
“The implementation will begin soon and those who have already fixed the meters will get a refund as early as possible,” Sawant said.
He said as already mentioned GoaMiles, the app-based aggregator, will also have to fix the digital meters and all drivers will have to mandatorily have a badge and have to fulfill 15-years domicile criteria.
