MARGAO
Congress MLA Reginaldo Lourenco has said that domestic tourists and visitors to Goa are not paying any heed to the mandatory norms in the prevention of Covid-19.
He said these visitors are roaming the State’s varied places including beaches, monuments, markets without wearing masks and flouting social distancing norms.
“It is given to understand that since the lockdown was lifted in July 2020 government of Goa has stopped testing for Covid-19 on tourists/visitors who are entering/arriving in the State. Majority of these tourists/visitors who are arriving in Goa hail from the North Indian States including Delhi, which has again witnessed a huge surge in Covid cases,” Reginaldo said.
Saying that Goa can ill-afford to have a callous approach while complying with the Dos and Don’ts in the prevention of the contagious virus, he said that Goa must not lower its guard even though the cases count may have decreased for the last few days but the truth is Goa has also accounted for 671 fatalities till November 19 due to the pandemic.
“The law enforcement agencies including police must be instructed to penalise all those people who are not wearing masks. Concurrently, observing social distancing and regular sanitisation/washing of hands by everyone must be continued in Goa. There are no two opinions that tourism is a major revenue earner for Goa but at the same time the State cannot allow people not adhering to the preventive norms for Covid,” he added.
