Documented by Goa Desc Resource Centre Ph:2252660
Website: www.goadesc.org Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Press Clippings on the web: http://www.goadesc.org/mem/
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GOA DESC TOURISM WATCH
for World Tourism Day on 27th September
News You Can Use
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In Troubled Waters
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Fixing the responsibility has always been a tough proposition;
and it is really an acute problem, who is to be blamed for the
drowning of the four students at Candolim beach; the students
themselves or the state government. Someone has to own up.The state government certainly cannot evade its responsibility of ensuring safety of the tourists visiting the Goan beaches. It is not as if this is an isolated incident of drowning; Goa's beaches are gradually turning into death traps. During the last couple of years, not less than 100 people have met watery graves.
It is the image of Goa, a place of fun and frolic, built assiduously by the promoters of tourism, that impressed the four students from Noida's Amity Business School on a three-day study trip to the state. They dared to violate the instructions of their teachers, not to venture out of the hotel without permission and rushed to the beach for enjoying a bath.
The charm of the sea is irresistible; it is fascinating and attracts people to Goa. These students were no exception. Unfortunately, the number of lifeguards was not adequate to rescue them. The state government is yet to initiate any concrete action plan to check the drownings. Incidentally, the government wakes up to the need for tightening the security and posting more lifeguards only after a fresh mishap takes place.
Whenever a case of drowning takes place, the officials and the government come out with the usual rhetoric. Barring the occasional drowning or missing of the fishermen, it is the second major incident of drowning in Goa. In the earlier incident, at least eight persons of a tourist contingent from Andhra Pradesh had drowned. Like its past rhetoric, the government came out with the promise to boost up the security along the beaches and ensure that the enough lifeguards were deployed to protect the tourists. But this promise was never to be kept.
The number of lifeguards is not commensurate to the increase in the flow of the domestic tourists. Even the senior tourism officials accept the fact that the number of lifeguards is inadequate; they have around 52 while the actual need is 500, in case the department of tourism prefers to follow the international standard. The basic reason for unavailability of good hands has been the lack of job security, as they continue to serve on contract basis.
What has been most shocking is that there have been attempts by tourists to attack the guards. Some time back, the police arrested some Arabs at Colva beach on this charge. Do the government authorities expect the guards to perform their duties under these adverse conditions? What is even more disturbing is that some groups of anti-socials are treating the beaches as their fiefdoms.
The state has been witnessing a sustained growth in the inflow of the tourists; usually tourists do not come to Goa during the monsoon. But this rainy season was an exception as a good number of tourists descended and even a considerable number of conferences and seminars took place. Though during the rainy season the sea is rough, people thronged to the beaches.
Obviously this is a boost to the government action plan "365 days in Goa", but the government has failed to live upto the expectations of the tourists and the industry.
After every incident of drowning, the government promises to come out with an "action plan" and this time too it has announced an ambitious plan. The government intends to launch a constant monitoring of the beaches. Under the plan, the police will accompany the lifeguards. It may at the first glance appear to be the most suitable action plan but its feasibility will always be doubtful.
The International Film Festival will witness an abrupt increase in the inflow of tourists. The authorities cannot guarantee that the police-lifeguard combination would be a permanent feature and prove to be effective.
With Goa emerging as a major entertainment destination, the government must take a pragmatic view and with beaches turning out to be the main attraction for the tourists, it should go for raising a separate band of lifeguards. For how many more years do the government authorities intend to experiment?
There must be some kind of real action, instead of simple action plans. Instead of putting in the police personnel who have to report to their own bosses, the government must consider setting up outposts at the beaches manned by the lifeguards, under a separate command. ------------------------------------------------------------ Editorial in The Navhind Times 29/8/03 page 9 ------------------------------------------------------------ ======================================= GOA DESC RESOURCE CENTRE Documentation + Education + Solidarity 11 Liberty Apts., Feira Alta, Mapusa, Goa 403 507 Tel: 2252660 mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] website: www.goadesc.org ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Working On Issues Of Development & Democracy =======================================
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