SHOAIB SHAIKH | NT
Staff Reporter
PANAJI
The delay in submitting the beach carrying capacity report is expected to put a spoke in the wheels of beach weddings planned in the state this season.
Sources said that applications of star resorts and hotels seeking permissions to organise beach weddings have been either held back or rejected by the Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority. The reason for the stalemate is that the GCZMA has not cleared the Goa shack policy 2016-19 in toto, leaving the event organisers on tenterhooks.
A senior official of the government stated that the tourism department’s policy which has been in three parts was approved partially.
“Only the first part of the policy, which is related to putting up of shacks on beaches, was approved by the GCZMA. The other two parts – setting up of private shacks and the other related to events including weddings – have not been approved,” the official said.
When asked for the reason for the partial approval, the officer said the approvals were not granted by the GCZMA as the beach carrying capacity report has not yet been submitted and approved by the government.
Apparently, the GCZMA is the agency which had been entrusted by the National Green Tribunal in December 2014 to carry out the beach carrying capacity studies and submit its report. Sources said that four draft reports have been prepared by the authority, but none of them have been submitted before the NGT.
Earlier this year, the state government had roped in the National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management to conduct studies for assessing the carrying capacity of beaches.
Tourism analysts fear strong impact on tourism business in the current season especially on events and weddings.
Travel and Tourism Association of Goa president Savio Messias said, “We feel that these structures are for a day and not permanent structure, and they are not huge structures either. Hence it shouldn’t be confused with the beach carrying capacity. Why should the industry suffer for the delays of the tourism department?”
Wedding planners in the state are wary of the huge impact of the decision of the GCZMA to hold back or reject permissions to beach weddings.
Lyndon Alves, owner of Sunset Getaways, said that Goa could be the only destination in the world which does not allow beach weddings. With this kind of an approach, the state stands to lose on overall tourism business as people would have a preconceived notion about Goa, he added.
Stating that the Rajasthan government approached the Archeological Survey of India to permit weddings inside the forts without affecting the environs, Alves questioned, “When heritage sites can be provided for the event, why the beaches cannot be given for weddings?”
He further said, “Obviously, just because the beaches are not a heritage site we cannot damage the beaches. But what we are doing is just placing tables and people having dinner there and the next day morning everything is cleared. And unlike Thailand, where the government gives you the exclusive use of the beach, we in Goa don’t even cordon off the area.”