Asian Age - Pamela  D'Mello

Goa's illegal beach shacks are likely to be demolished

Panaji: Goa's belaguered tourism industry has stepped up pressure on the
state government to continue its demolition of unlicenced beach shacks
operating temporarily along the coast here.

A victim of their success, the once charming palm-thatched eateries run by
former fishing families on the ocean front, have metamorphised and
proliferated into hordes of ugly makeshift bamboo structures. Last week,
when the Goa government's tourism department finally demolished several of
the unlicenced shacks on the northern Candolim coast, there weren't too
many tears shed. Deck chairs and beach umbrellas rented out by shack
operators have given Goa's once pristine beaches a more crowded look. Fruit
sellers, trinket and sarong vendors and others have brought commerce right
down to the water's edge.

"Beach shacks are a major menace on the beaches," says Kirit Maganlal of
the Travel and Tourism Associatin of Goa, the industry's representative body.

Over a series of meetings, tourism industry spokespersons urged minister
Victoria Fernandes to enforce conditions under which licences are issued to
shacks which operate during the October-April tourist season here. Garbage
left to rot on the sand is one of the major irritants, while established
hoteliers are also irked that the shacks serve alcohol, in violation of the
beer-only permit alloted. Shacks and beach front hotels have been locked in
a turf-battle for years. Hotels charge that the shacks lure away their food
and beverage sales from right under their noses, clustering just outside
the hotels. Industry had lobbied hard to impose conditions that restricted
shacks from cooking on the beach itself and thus steal some of its charm -
but this is more often flouted now, Mr Maganlal said. The TTAG wants shacks
to be graded like all other eateries and imposed with sales tax liabilities.
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And  from the Gomantak Times 17 Jan 2000:

Kuchadkar appeals to the CM to demolish shacks run by foreigners

PANAJI: The convenor of the Goa Pradesh Youth Congress (GPYC) Nandan
Kudchadkar has appealed to the state government to demolish the restaurants
and shacks which have sprung up at the coastal belt especially on the
Calangute, Baga stretch, which are run by non-Indians, (persons of foreign
origin) and which  prominently carry a notice board at the entrance of
their restaurant stating... "This  is a European Run Restaurant".

Nandan in a press note said that such notice are highly objectionable and
an insult  to all Indians and moreover to the Goans.    It gives a feeling
that Goa is still under the cluthes of the imperial regime, as such Chief
Minister Francisco Sardinha should look into this matter and get these
restaurant and shacks demolished and thus uphold the respect of the Indians
and moreover of all the Goans.