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It doesn't only happen in Goa, it also happens in Switzerland without
the... From 2012, a BJP government, for reasons best known to itself...
----- Mensagem de Pamela D'Mello <[email protected]> ---------
Data: Wed, 17 Dec 2025 11:17:05 +0530
De: Pamela D'Mello <[email protected]>
Assunto: [GRN] Comment: Of Nightclubs, Goa Tourism & Fire Risk
Para: [email protected]
OPINION[1]
OF NIGHTCLUBS, GOA TOURISM & FIRE RISK
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December 11, 2025
By Pamela D’Mello
From a [2]longer video[3] of the Arpora Night Club Fire on the night
of December 6-7 and the Goa Chief Minister’s statement[4], it’s
clear a stray spark from pyrotechnics during a belly dancing
routine, seems to have caught the low, flammable roof. Built of
eco-friendly palm, cane and wood, on a water body, the place went
ablaze in minutes; panic, smoke and limited exits, fatally trapping
unaware staff in a basement kitchen and some tourist guests.
Collective grief at the loss of lives will seek accountability,
compensation, blame. The television media frenzy, bolstered by
social media keep the pressure on, from every angle; not always fair.
But let’s pause a minute and consider deeper systemic issues.
From 2012, a BJP government, for reasons best known to itself, reset
Goa’s seasonal (October-May) foreign international tourism
orientation, towards a domestic 365-day product, taking promotional
road shows into small town India, ostensibly to garner new markets.
Additional infrastructure, bridges, night clubs, increased hotels
and flight connectivity, electronic music festivals followed this
diversification.
When this marketing pitch succeeded beyond expectation[5], the
post-liberalisation, cash-rich domestic tourism segment it brought
in, filled the casino ships, buoyed nightlife tourism and mega
festivals ; but crashed the remainder of the foreign market (seeking
rustic, relaxed beach holidays) and trashed the North Goa product
(until then with local providers), significantly. One can speculate
why this tact was pursued, but it changed the nature of life for
local citizens in the tourism belt.
Weekend drive-ins clog North Goa roads, driving under the influence,
traffic fatalities registered an uptick; while littering and beach
behaviour patterns make the foreign and domestic tourism markets
incompatible. A consequent drop in the destination’s international
footprint, eroded its premium tag. Simultaneously, an emphasis on
growing domestic numbers also included segments of budget
male-getaway tourism, seeking a seedier experience.
Politically connected persons made fortunes from increased licensing
to roadside and beachhead retail liquor outlets[6], that encouraged
alcohol consumption in public places, until citizen and stakeholder
outrage forced some checks.
While Goa may have notched an economic success story under the
regime; its cultural life received a setback along the northern
coastal belts. Beleaguered and besieged fishing communities-turned
shack owners and tourism establishments — receiving little policing
help from government (and questionable treatment) to manage touts,
beach salespersons and public consumption of alcohol — were driven
to a stage where they had to prohibit their own families from the
beach. Local entrepreneurs continued their businesses in the
inundated, overwhelmed beach villages, but shifted family homes to
more family-friendly areas when possible.
Meanwhile, increased tourism-driven real estate market spawned
holiday second home spaces. These, in turn opened up Airbnb rentals;
a resultant product overcapacity (from room rentals, restaurants,
spas, casinos to nightclubs), besides overall competition in a
domestic buyer’s market. All of this, playing out in a climate where
Goa’s new political class — the former agricultural tenant-owner
turned real estate entrepreneur, is jockeying for market space and
influence, with competing Indian big-city investors — each
leveraging their own bureaucratic, political and influencer/media
cards to outplay the other.
This seems to be the case in the Arpora fire property. Multiple
complaints, civil suits between former and current owners,
questionable constructions in an area where the outline development
plan (ODPs) have been legally questioned by NGOs, citizens and the
courts.[7]
Post the fire, the state government has tightened controls over
tourism establishments, but responsible tourism requires more.
When sections of tourists see the state as a place to indulge in
reckless behaviour — how long before something crashes from time to
time, singeing both themselves and the hapless workers and people
around?
For some holidayers, Goa evokes that sense of binge fun.
This hit home personally at a family celebration dinner at a
restaurant in coastal North Goa, a couple years ago. Once a charming
restaurant catering to the chartered tourist crowd, it had become
unrecognizable. Post nine pm, a makeshift stage lit up with strobes
and dancers. Soon, the young tourist crowd got wilder; clambering
onto the wooden tables and chairs; whooping to the music and giving
‘over-the-top’ vibes. There might not have been electronic
fireworks. Yet, one eye marking out the exits, in case things got
too rowdy, we wound up and left.
Inexperienced service providers, competing in a crowded marketplace,
to provide nightclub experiences to clearly uninitiated tourists
seeking a wild time, are skating on thin ice; reflected in the
frequent fisticuffs that break out between overenthusiastic,
oftentimes inebriated tourists and the establishment’s bouncers.
When pyrotechnics are set off indoors to notch up the glam, it is
only luck that prevents disaster. Eco-friendly decor, like Birch’s,
is fine and perfect for sedate dining venues. When they double up as
nightclubs post dusk, as some places do, and include fireworks in
the entertainment mix; the risk increases. Howsoever equipped an
establishment is with fire safety equipment; the response window may
be extremely small and the price of meeting the domestic tourism
segment’s demands for showy glitz, proves fatal.
Tough questions and accountability can and should be asked of owners
and authorities. But bad tourist behaviour must be discouraged. The
notion that Goa can be that place in India where anything goes, has
to undergo an urgent reset.
While on the subject of fireworks, it might not hurt to remember
that nightclubs are not the only ones playing with fire. So are our
religious and other festivals, for one.
Consider what having excessive spending power (and arrogance) is
doing to our beloved religious festivals. The music has gotten
ear-splittingly louder (trance at high decibels may not be your
neighbour’s cup of tea), and all the gods will not be able to avert
tragedies, if firecrackers are flung irresponsibly (as they are) in
narrow lanes, near flammable motor vehicles, residential homes and
overhead electric wires. Anyone living close to a pond, would watch
in growing alarm as each procession winds down the road; reminiscing
for a time not long ago, when the celebrations were melodious,
meaningful and magical.
Fire accidents sparked by fireworks in other parts of the country
are woefully regular: an urbanizing Goa is sadly, joining that
mainstream.
Surely, as a civilization, we should be willing to police ourselves.
If policing — rather than common sense, decency, decorum, respect
and self-restraint — is expected to be the only deterrent, then the
question is how much and how effective, can it ever possibly be?
It may be easier for current politics to throw money at community
festival organizers to win popularity, votes and elections, than it
is to govern or recreate the national character we were once proud
of. One can be certain though, that it is not doing our
civilization any favours. (ends)
Tags #Arpora Nightclub Fire[8] #Goa[9] #Goa Tourism[10] #nightclub[11]
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[13]OPINION[1]
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Of Nightclubs, Goa Tourism & Fire Risk
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[13]PEOPLE[14]
Sister Noemia de Souza: Educator, Administrator, Religious[15]
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Ligações:
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[1] https://goajournal.in/category/politics/opinion/
[2] https://goajournal.in/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/IMG-20251211-WA0007.jpg
[3]
https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/my-head-was-shaking-i-just-ran-dancer-recalls-chilling-escape-from-goa-club-fire-2832110-2025-12-07
[4]
https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/goa-nightclub-fire-caused-by-internal-fireworks-limited-exits-led-to-casualties-4-arrested-cm-pramod-sawant-2832134-2025-12-07
[5] https://www.heraldgoa.in/cafe/goa-the-365-day-tourist-destination/194610/
[6]
https://goajournal.in/alcohol-bottle-waste-a-transparent-problem-on-goas-beaches/
[7]
https://epaper.navhindtimes.in/PageImages/pdf/2025/06/24/2406025-md-ga-02.pdf
[8] https://goajournal.in/tag/arpora-nightclub-fire/
[9] https://goajournal.in/tag/goa/
[10] https://goajournal.in/tag/goa-tourism/
[11] https://goajournal.in/tag/nightclub/
[12]
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[14] https://goajournal.in/category/culture/people/
[15]
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[16] https://goajournal.in/shufflehound_footer/about/
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