Goa bans drinking, canvassing for activities in Karwar on its beaches

The Goa tourism department, on Monday, formally banned cooking and consuming liquor on the state’s popular beaches.

It has also prohibited touts, beggars and illegal setting up of beach beds as well as canvassing by water sports operators for sea rides to Karwar in Karnataka and Malvan in Maharashtra.

The neighbouring state’s government has clubbed such activities as acts of ‘nuisance’.

A formal order issued by the tourism department says those found violating the directions in the order would be fined between Rs 5,000 and Rs 50,000 for the offence, while directing police officials to implement the new directive strictly on the state’s beaches.

The order signed by state tourism director Nikhil Desai prohibits “activities such as consumption of liquor in open and breaking of glass bottles in tourist places, besides activities related to unauthorised selling of water sports tickets and packages to tourists for services offered outside Goa in places like Malvan and Karwar”.

The order “declare(s) such activities as nuisance since they have damaged and deteriorated or are likely to damage or deteriorate the potential of the tourist places as defined under section 3 of the Goa Tourist Places Protection and Maintenance Act, 2001”.

The effort is a part of the tourism ministry’s efforts to streamline tourism activities on Goa’s beaches, which before the pandemic attracted nearly eight million tourists.

While the state continues to attract hundreds of thousands of tourists every year, Goa’s ill-kept beaches and repeated harassment of tourists by beggars and touts, according to Tourism Minister Rohan Khaunte, have the potential to slur the state’s reputation as the country’s top beach tourism destination.