The Goa Tourism department has decided to impose a fine of Rs 10,000 for drinking on beaches after several areas were found littered with bottles after the new year celebrations, an official said on Friday.
State Tourism Director Menino D'Souza told news agency PTI that boards cautioning people against drinking on beaches have been installed. The state government, in January 2019, amended the Tourist Trade Act imposing fine of Rs 2,000 for individuals and Rs 10,000 for groups drinking on beaches, he said.
"The tourism department will enforce the amended Act through police. Once we have our Tourist Police Force, we will be able to do it on our own," he added.
Menino D'Souza said “The notifications were issued two years ago and the responsibility for enforcing this is with the police. They are a government body and can issue challans. No one else can. A proposal is in place to set up a force for the tourism industry. It will happen, of that there is no doubt.”
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The move appears to have come in the backdrop of popular beaches strewn with alcohol bottles and other waste on New Year’s Day. There were also reports of visitors sustaining injuries after accidentally stepping on broken glass bottles lying scattered in the sand.
In January 2019, the Goa cabinet had passed a law banning consumption of alcohol in public places and assured a crackdown on 'boozing' on beaches and other tourist sites in the coastal state, which attracts nearly eight million tourists every year. The Goa cabinet had approved the new, stricter law which also provides for a jail term of up to three months, in addition to the fine.
However, last year, state tourism minister Manohar Ajgaonkar had said that special zones would be created on the state's popular beaches for picnics and liquor drinking. To see if the policy is being well implemented, these beaches will have police head constables and wardens and supervisors, who will have the power to fine people drinking alcohol outside these designated zones, the minister had then said.
At the same time, there were also talks about introducing ‘a shack in the field’ project, which would fetch fresh beer. The idea was to serve authentic Goan food as well as set up a microbrewery to serve fresh beer to customers. The plan seems to have taken off after the Goa Tourism Department started the annual exercise of demarcating beach shacks in October last year. So holidaymakers must have their beer or other spirits either inside a shack or in the designated area under a beach umbrella.
