Goa tourism minister Dilip Paruelkar has said the beach shacks in the state must be equipped with CCTV cameras for the safety of tourists.
“The 353 beach shacks will get licences only if they install CCTV cameras in their premises as per the newly drafted beach shack policy,” Paruelkar told IANS.
The newly drafted Shack policy is awaiting Cabinet nod on Friday.
“Beach shacks will have to have CCTVs installed in their premises. This will increase the security for the thousands of tourists who visit the state every year,” Parulekar said on Wednesday.
As against granting of annual licences for beach shacks, the new policy will see shacks allotted licences to operate for a period of three consecutive years.
Beach shacks, temporary coconut-leaf thatched eateries are synonymous with Goa’s beaches and enormously popular with the hundreds of thousands of tourists.
The shacks have been a hub for food, drink, music and a significant value addition to beach tourism for decades, although several anti-narcotics raids in the recent past have yielded drugs and other contraband substances in some beach shacks or on the person of the employees working there.
In June this year, Paruelkar had announced the directives for the shacks to have CCTV cameras for keeping an eye on shoreline activities. He had also held a meeting with the shack operators as well as the MLAs from the coastal belt for deliberations on the new shack policy.
In recent times, shack operators have complained to the government against some of their peers allegedly violating norms, including those found sub-letting shacks after the allotment process.
With inputs from IANS
