Shaikh Jamaluddin | NT
DONA PAULA: Hordes of tourists are visiting the Dona Paula jetty these days with traffic jams being the order of the day on the newly-laid concrete road. Parking of vehicles along the road exacerbates the problem.
Many tourists come here to enjoy the unique beauty of the place besides seeing the expanse of the Arabian Sea, Mormugao Port, enjoy water sports, watch dolphins play besides see the whitewashed statue of Dona and Paula perched on the rocks near the popular ferry jetty and to know the story. Tourists also take selfie with their family members.
Residents and hawkers feel that there is an urgent need to depute a policeman to control the vehicular traffic and impose discipline on the stretch of road from Old CID office till the jetty and stop wrongdoing especially keep a check on drivers of tourist vehicles who do not adhere to parking norms.
Shopkeepers and hawkers say that the parts of concrete of the jetty are falling and fear that the jetty may collapse any time. People in the vicinity also complain that the public toilet is not properly maintained and the area stinks badly.
A visitor claimed that after sunset, the area plunges into darkness as there is no power supply to the overhead high mast since a couple of years. Hawkers ask as to what image of the state the visitors will make when authorities claim that tourism is being encouraged.
Stray dogs menace is growing on the jetty and nobody is bothered to stop it. More than 20 stray dogs roam the jetty and target the tourists eating or carrying eatables.
Another hawker claimed that in the recent past, as many as seven tourists were bitten by stray dogs calling upon the government to do something to feed them.