Goemkarponn desk
CALANGUTE: Calangute Sarpanch Joseph Sequeira, is in the eye of the storm over his plans to charge entry fees and make hotel bookings mandatory before entering the tourist place, says his comments have been twisted by media.
“Only the Trax vehicles, carrying 12-15 people or the buses, who come with all gadgets of cooking will be stopped at various checkpoints and asked for hotel booking,” he said.
He said the move is to discourage tourists from roadside cooking.
“We want to stop the nuisance in the village. We are not going to harass people coming in taxis or in personal cars with families. We want to restrict people from creating a nuisance,” he said.
He said that these are the same people who look out for dance bars and encourage touts.
“We do not want the name of our village to be tarnished worldwide,” he said.
Asked whether he had sought permission from authorities, he replied, the panchayat would take a resolution and then he would write to the Collector and see what he had to say.
The Calangute village panchayat in North Goa will come up with a proposal to make it mandatory for tourists to show proof of hotel reservations or pay tax to enter its limits.
Sequeira said, “The panchayat would adopt the resolution and forward it to the district collector in Panaji for further action. Once approved, its implementation will happen from the next tourist season (starting in October),” he said.
However, a source told that no such proposal had been received from anyone as yet.
“We want our village to be clean so that we can attract quality tourists,” he said and added that these restrictions will only be meant for tourists and not locals.
The sarpanch gave the example of the tourist town of Mahabaleshwar in Maharashtra, which collects entry tax from tourists. “We will do it on the lines of Mahabaleshwar Municipal Council,” Sequeira said.
A panchayat member said, “Locals in the village often have issues with people parking their vehicles on our narrow streets, which leads to conflict and thus the move will help free movement of traffic.”
A source in the Goa Tourism Department said that no proposal had been received as of June 6 and added that the administration will look into it once formal information is received.
