The Calangute Police have reportedly registered 30 cases during a special drive on Thursday, targeting illegal hawkers, public drinking, and touting along the Calangute-Baga coast. This was done due to complaints of nuisance caused to tourists and the public. However, I believe the police are merely staging this latest action as a form of ‘time-pass,’ with the aim of extorting money from easy targets along the coast. It also seems like an attempt to show they are proactive, especially after the recent attacks on tourists in Calangute.
Taking a few hawkers or touts into custody and imposing small fines won’t solve the problems along the Calangute-Baga coast. These same people will likely return within a couple of days, continuing their illegal activities after negotiating with their political connections in Calangute.I believe the Calangute Police should start by identifying and imposing heavy fines on those running illegal dance bars, supplying drugs or prostitutes to tourists, shack operators playing loud music late into the night, disturbing locals, and wholesale liquor outlets selling alcohol beyond the allowed hours. Only then, through consistent action, can they dream of truly cleaning up and restoring Calangute, once a world-famous tourist destination, to its former glory as a paradise in Goa.
