Coastal locales reel under bad planning

Posted on September 14, 2016 by crtgoa9020

This is what happens when tourism lies in the hands of the department and not in the hands of the Panchayat. The revenues go to the department and the brunt of tourism has to be borne by the local panchayat.

 

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/goa/Coastal-locales-reel-under-bad-planning/articleshow/54318812.cms

Years of haphazard, unplanned development have returned to haunt the Calangute-Candolim beach-belt as the North Goa Planning and Develoment Authority (NGPDA), headed by Calangute MLA Michael Lobo attempts to do some belated ‘planned development’ and bring some order to the prevailing chaos.

 Recently, the NGPDA started the process of clearing road setbacks in Candolim to create more space for parking. While this has been supported by the Candolim panchayat and most residents, it has resulted in water pipelines getting ruptured almost everyday. Neither the Candolim panchayat, public works department ( PWD) nor the NGPDA has information on the location of the numerous pipelines of the different resorts and homes which have been connected to the main PWD pipeline along the arterial Calangute-Candolim road.
Besides water pipelines, telephone cables are also getting cut all the time, not just in Candolim, but also in Calangute where digging has been going on for the underground sewerage network. While the sewerage pipeline network is expected to be completed in a few weeks time, the next stage will see resorts and homes being connected to the sewerage pipeline, which will mean more digging.
Lobo said that this should have been done years ago, but infrastructure work suffered because of political rivalry between the earlier MLAs and the various panchayat members.
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shack owners put forth demands

Posted on September 13, 2016 by crtgoa9020

http://www.epaperoheraldo.in/Details.aspx?id=23080&boxid=162146129&uid=&dat=9/13/2016

sh

Posted in Shack Owners Welfare Society - SOWS Goa | Leave a comment

Beach cleaning contractors get govt’s termination notice

Posted on September 13, 2016 by crtgoa9020

Not just terminating the contract is enough, they should be banned from applying ever again.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/goa/Beach-cleaning-contractors-get-govts-termination-notice/articleshow/54300314.cms

The tourism department finally issued notices to beach cleaning contractors to discontinue their services.

The services of the two contractors – Ram Cleaners and Developers Private Limited andM/s Bhumika Clear Tech Services – stands terminated in 30 days, counted from the date of receipt of notices by them. Director of tourism Sanjeev C Gauns Dessai said that the two contractors have been slapped with notices on September 2 to stop the beach cleaning service.
Ahead of the tourism season which takes off in October, the tourism department will have to make a stopgap arrangement to keep the beaches clean until a new agency is appoint
The tourism director said the government would shortly take a decision in this regard. To a question about bills to be paid to beach cleaning contractors, he said bills would be cleared as directed by the Lokayukta. The bills, for a period between April 2016 and July 2016, are still pending.

 A source said Goa tourism development corporation (GTDC) will take up the responsibility of beach cleaning until a new tender is floated and agency is appointed. It may take a few months before the tendering process is completed to have a new contractor selected.
It was only last month that the government abruptly decided to terminate beach cleaning contracts signed with the two contractors even as it had been a source of huge embarrassment to the government due to incessant complaints against the duo.
 There were also allegations of a scam by the Opposition members and questions were raised over whether the state government really needs to pay crores of rupees to clean beaches while earlier the same less money was spent to carry out the same work. A complaint was also filed before Lokayukta alleging illegalities in the tendering process.
Posted in Beaches of Goa | Leave a comment

‘Plan of action to tackle child abuse in tourism needed’

Posted on September 11, 2016 by crtgoa9020

The department of women and child development, in collaboration with thetourism department, should develop a “state plan of action to counter child abuse in tourism”, a research study has pointed out.

 Tour operators, travel agents, hotels, elected representatives, local authorities, the judiciary, the police, child rights organizations and other civil society groups and communities must come together to protect children and combat child abuse.
 “Tourism policies and plans must be re-envisioned with the participation of children. They should be taken into consideration and a commitment must be made to ensure that tourism is promoted in a non-exploitative manner by taking pro-active steps to respect and promote the development and dignity of the child,” the study has recommended.
“The state tourism department does not perceive the issue of child protection as its mandate. The tourism industry, both organized and unorganized, should be held accountable for practices that exploit children,” the study titled, ‘Walking the tightrope-Exploitation of migrant children in tourism in Goa’, has stated.
Child protection committees, under the integrated child protection scheme, set up in every village in the state will push for children’s issues to be addressed, the report pointed out.
Posted in Children in Tourism | Leave a comment

Beaches wear a tidy look

Posted on September 9, 2016 by crtgoa9020

We don’t need crores to be spent of beach cleaning contractors that do nothing but eat into tax payers money. All we need is alert, agile and responsible citizens who do their small bit. Along with them, a well run and managed

http://www.epaperoheraldo.in/Details.aspx?id=22994&boxid=151843926&uid=&dat=9/9/2016

clean

 

Posted in Beaches of Goa | Leave a comment

GTDC yet to submit crucial docus for certificate: CCP

Posted on September 8, 2016 by crtgoa9020

This is what happens when GTDC tries to interfere in areas that do not concern them. Nilesh Cabral needs to run his own corporation properly instead of building car parks and getting involved in panels of which he has no clue about.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/goa/GTDC-yet-to-submit-crucial-docus-for-certificate-CCP/articleshow/54140959.cms

Goa Tourism Development Corporation’s claim that the multi-level pay parking facility at Patto was delayed for want of the occupancy certificate from the Corporation of City of Panaji (CCP) has been countered by the civic body.

CCP sources said that not only had the tourism department failed to submit all the required documents, it had also failed to pay dues amounting to around 48 lakh.

Sources said the no-objection certificate from the directorate of fire & emergency services was pending along with a certificate stating that a structural engineer had been appointed to check the structural integrity of the multi-level parking facility.

“I told them I will clear the file if required in half-an-hour, but a rule is a rule, even if it is a government department,” commissioner Dipak Desai said.

To make it worse, GTDC has asked by cash-strapped CCP to waive off the pending dues which are owed to CCP as renewal fees. Such a decision can only be taken by the CCP council.

This would not be the first time that GTDC has found a reason to account for the delay in opening the multi-level pay parking facility.

Earlier, GTDC said that the facility at Patto was delayed as there was a delay in installing the elevators at the parking facility.

A source said that CCP had written three letters to GTDC asking them to submit the relevant documents, but till date, none of the documents had been submitted. “It finally benefits Panaji, so why would CCP want to delay it?” a CCP official said.

 

GTDC chairman Nilesh Cabral had earlier said that “the occupancy from the CCP” was awaited.

 

He said once all the documentation and formalities are complete we will issue the occupancy clearance.

 

The 90 crore project can accommodate around 550 vehicles and has elevators for passengers.

The construction was started about two and half years ago by M Venkata Rao Infra Projects Pvt Ltd but repeatedly got stalled due to the delay in payments.

Posted in Reports | Leave a comment