Officials struggle to curb sub-letting of shacks

Posted on July 9, 2016 by crtgoa9020

The sub-letting of shacks is no secret. It is easy money for Goans who get the license. But this is not why the license was given in the first place. Goans are licences to run shacks to offer ‘ Goaness’ to the visitor. It is very hard to prove but the government is within its right to conduct under cover operations to catch a few of the culprits, which will be a preemptive strike.

 

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/goa/Officials-struggle-to-curb-sub-letting-of-shacks/articleshow/53122741.cms

The validity of the three-year beach shack policy expired in May 2016 and a fresh policy for the upcoming season is yet to be formulated, though the first round of meetings to discuss the policy took place last month. In all likelihood, the tourism department will stick to a three-year-policy under which validity of the beach shack licences will be three years. While the tourism department has succeeded in curtailing some illegalities on beaches, it couldn’t stop allottees who sub-let their shacks. The beach shack policy prohibits sub-letting of shacks.

A tourism official said it is a difficult task, and they can’t do much for want to proof. Some even rent their shacks to foreigners. A simple modus operandi followed by most, he says, is that a person who takes the shack on rent will maintain that he has been appointed as a manager by the allottee. Also, in exchange for a certain amount (the rate depends on the location), an allottee would rent his shack but the transaction will not reflect on paper.

“Everyone in the vicinity knows who the actual owner is but fellow shack operators will keep mum,” he said. A shack operator who has been in the business for over a decade, said that some participate in the lottery with the sole intention of subletting.

 

“This is quite common and unfair too, for us, genuine operators,” he pointed out.

 

During the first meeting, there wasn’t much discussion on the beach shack policy, a tourism official said, adding that the next meeting will be more fruitful. The date of this meeting has still not been finalized.

 

The number of shacks to be allotted for each beach is decided in consultation with the Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority (GCZMA).

 

On an average, 350-360 beach shacks are permitted to be erected along the 105km coastline of the state. He said they prefer a three year policy as it will save them the task of allotments through a lottery system at the start of every tourist season. In the past, shack allotments have turned quite controversial, and once or twice matters even reached the corridors of the high court.

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

Move MV Flotal from Chorao area: Forest dept to CoP

Posted on July 9, 2016 by crtgoa9020

A classic example of one department (forest dept) washing their hands off and passing the buck to another department ( Capt.of Ports) and then we have Mr.Parsekar himself making statements that Casinos cannot be stopped ! This government has no will to stop casinos, this is the be all – end all

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/goa/Move-MV-Flotal-from-Chorao-area-Forest-dept-to-CoP/articleshow/53123090.cms

The forest department on Friday objected to the anchoring of a casino vessel near the Dr Salim Ali bird sanctuary and directed the captain of ports (CoP) to immediately shift the vessel. On Thursday, a group of protesting locals had given the government a 15-day ultimatum to shit the casino from the Ribandar side.

Forest department officials, after inspecting the vessel had sent CoP some queries. “We had asked CoP for a report on the distance of the vessel from the sanctuary and among other pollutions, the level of noise pollution it caused,” environment and forest minister Rajendra Arlekar told TOI , and added that CoP was given till 1pm on Friday to furnish details.

“As the CoP failed to answer the queries, the forest department has directed the CoP to move M V Flotal away from the protected bird habitat,” Arlekar said.

Casino Deltin Caravela, Goa’s first offshore casino arrived in the River Mandovi last month, refurbished as a five-star floating hotel-cum-casino.

A first of its kind in Goa, Deltin group said the vessel was designed to attract the creme de la creme of the high-end tourist only with the aim of giving the tourism sector a major boost in terms of high spending visitors.

At the time CoP had granted permission the vessel permission to anchor at Britona, close to the Britona church, but as there was opposition it was moved towards Ribandar, near the bird sanctuary.

The state government recently renewed the gaming licence of Deltin Pleasure Cruise Company Private Limited, which belongs to Delta Group.

In May 2013, the casino was moved out of the River Mandovi for refurbishing. It was renamed M V Flotal.

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‘Casinos in Goa can’t be shut down’

Posted on July 9, 2016 by crtgoa9020

This government can convert trees to grass by passing an ordinance…so why can’t casinos be shut down too? is there a will for such a move is the question ?

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/goa/Casinos-in-Goa-cant-be-shut-down/articleshow/53123104.cms

Chief minister Laxmikant Parsekar on Friday said that at a time when the central government has been soliciting investments in India, casinos in the state can’t be shut down. Interestingly, he also insisted that he hadn’t given any permissions to MV Flotal, which is presently docked in River Mandovi off Choraoisland.

Speaking to reporters, he said his policy wasn’t to increase casinos in Goa but to raise tariffs to deter the common man from visiting them. “Because of an increase in tariffs, there has been a decrease in onshore casinos in the state. There were 18 land-based casinos earlier. This number has now been reduced to a single digit,” he added.

The chief minister went on to state that his government hasn’t encouraged the addition of new casinos and that if the existing offshore casinos have to be removed, due procedure would have to be followed. “My government has been working towards this objective and the Captain of Ports has already been directed to identify an alternative location,” he said.

Explaining that the central government has been organizing a slew of summits to attract investors to India, Parsekar said that those who have invested in the state earlier couldn’t be abruptly asked to leave. “I will not do that (ask them to leave abruptly). The concerned parties will approach the courts and obtain a stay on the government’s decision,” he stated.

A day earlier, anti-casino groups had demanded that the government shift casinoCaravela away from the Chorao island in River Mandovi within 15 days.

When asked about the ultimatum, Parsekar took a dig at the earlier Congressgovernment. “I’ve said, time and again, that I have not permitted any new casinos in the state. In fact, these very casinos were allowed by those who are now opposing them. All my government is doing is renewing permits to existing casinos. I have not given permission to casino Caravela. Rather, it has obtained approvals from various departments and it is up to the company concerned to decide whether it wants to move the vessel from Chorao,” he said.

The chief minister also expressed a desire to appoint a gaming commission as soon as possible and said that a file in this regard is already in circulation.

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Hounded for opposing the Chapora project

Posted on July 8, 2016 by crtgoa9020

The locals who are opposing the Chapora Project getting harassed at the hands of the government 

http://englishnews.thegoan.net/story.php?id=20158

When it comes to Siolim, the government has double standards.

On the one hand it has promulgated an ordinance to regularise illegal constructions, and on the other, its minister is accused of harassing locals who constructed commercial structures nearly 12 years ago.

Their fault is they dared to approach the National Green Tribunal in Pune to block construction of a jetty on the Siolim side of the Chapora river, a project promoted by local MLA and Water Resources Minister Dayanand Mandrekar.

Speaking to The Goan, Gurudas Vernekar who has approached the National Green Tribunal against the Siolim Chapora waterfront beautification project said that they have been at the receiving end of notices from various government authorities for commercial structures they had legally built several years ago and being denied various No Objection Certificates, NOCs so that their businesses are affected.

“The panchayat is harassing us for granting NOCs based on which we need to get electricity connections, and other permissions despite us following all the necessary procedure that is needed,” Vernekar told The Goan.

He also said that the Public Works Department has sent them a notice for a structure that was more than 10-12 years old. “Was the department sleeping when the structure was standing all these years? Why have they woken up only now?” he asked.

Through an NOC, Vernekar and others were allowed to build shops beside a new 10-metre road that was being built through the fields, as a bypass from the Siolim market to the bridge. A total 18-metre wide land filling was allowed of which 10-metres would be the road and the rest 8m could be used by the tenants who lost their land to the road. It is for these shops that Vernekars and others are being allegedly harassed.

They also face charges of threatening a talathi who had come as part of a site inspection based on a complaint of land filling.

Mandrekar has denied that he is involved in the harassment. “This is a government project. It involves building the bandh as well as beautification. It is not my personal project so I don’t have personal interest in it,” Mandrekar said.

He said that the project has been designed and built by officers of the Water Resources Department and has been cleared by the Works Appraisal Board headed by the Chief Secretary and the plans have been inspired by the Narmada Waterfront Project in Gujarat.

“They want to oppose the project, let them. The law will take its own course and I am confident that the project will come through,” he said.

He denied that he had a hand in the government’s notices to the complainants.

“It is a government process. The cases are not personal vendetta,” he said adding that they have been filed by the revenue officials and others because of the course of events.

He denied that the project will be used to dock casino boats saying that the Chapora river is very shallow in these parts and with a shallow draught, the boats will not find it suitable. Sixty per cent of the work is complete, he said.

– See more at: http://englishnews.thegoan.net/story.php?id=20158#sthash.8VjQzeTh.dpuf

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Ribandar people give the government 15 days notice

Posted on July 8, 2016 by crtgoa9020

First Chorao and now the people of Ribandar express their dissatisfaction about the Casinos…will the government consider the wishes of the people over corporate interests?

ribandar

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Awful Calangute roads another blot on popular tourist spot – See more at: http://englishnews.thegoan.net/story.php?id=20121#sthash.xGwDSlx8.dpuf

Posted on July 7, 2016 by crtgoa9020
 And the news isn’t getting better for the tourists and the locals alike. The ride is getting bumpier every day and with the progress of monsoon it’s going to get even worse in the coastal village. In some areas like the Holiday Street stretch, there’s no road at all. In most other areas especially on internal stretches, craters of different shapes and sizes dot the roads. From tourists to locals and school children to senior citizens, none have been spared on account of the poor condition of the roads in the popular tourist destination. “Bad roads have been a huge problem in Calangute. In a recent meeting, I pleaded with folded hands with the local MLA to repair the roads on top priority. He had promised to get it done in 24 hours but even after five weeks the condition hasn’t changed,” said Anthony D’Souza, a resident of Calangute. He said the government has no will to act against contractors who execute the
substandard work. The main road from Candolim Ximer to the roundabout near the Jack Sequeira statue has been worst affected. Besides the road near Kamat Holidays Home, Gauravaddo, the road before the
Calangute church and near the Little Flower School and other internal roads have
also been battered badly. “The condition becomes worse in rains as we cannot locate potholes filled with
water. Two days ago I fell with my bike near Kamat Holidays Home,” said Nitesh Chodankar, Vice-President of Rent-a-Cab Association. He further disclosed that he has lifted quite a few tourists, locals and even students who fell while riding trough the pot-holed ridden roads. “Instead of blaming each
other, the authorities should get their act together and repair the roads on top priority,” he opined.
From hoteliers to businessmen and taxi-drivers to two wheeler riders – every segment of the society has
been facing the brunt of the bad roads in the coastal village. “We are losing business because of the bad roads. People take diversion and proceed to Baga from Arpora side,” said Anthony Menezes, an hotelier and former ZP member. He refused to blame any politicians for the messy condition of the roads
but put the onus on PWD. Recently some roads, especially work on the road to Baga was taken up by the
authorities and have been repaired. “The Baga road must have been repaired to benefit the hoteliers. What about the roads leading to schools,” questioned Anthony D’Souza. “I will file a writ petition in the High Court against the horrible condition of roads in Calangute,” D’Souza warned. Deputy Sarpanch of Calangute, Joseph Sequeira admits roads in the constituency have deteriorated because of the ongoing
sewerage works. “We have written numerous letters to various government departments and even
to JICA officials on poor road condition. But none have been able to restore the broken roads,” Sequeira rued. He said the panchayat even met the collector on the issue but without any results. “The collector
told us that the JICA was a time-bound project and she couldn’t stop the ongoing sewerage works,” he added.

– See more at: http://englishnews.thegoan.net/story.php?id=20121#sthash.xGwDSlx8.dpuf

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