Goa orders 23 beach shacks to close over sub-letting charge
Goa allocates 364 beach shacks on an annual basis and residents of Goa who are ‘unemployed’ are eligible to seek allotment of the shacks.
PANAJI: The Goa government has ordered closure of 23 beach shacks on charges that they had sub-let the shack won in a draw of lots to people from outside the state.
The state tourism department said the action was taken after incidents of violence along the beach shacks turned the spotlight on subletting of shacks.
“The department, after taking cognizance of the reports of illegal subletting, had carried out a thorough inspection drive across beach shacks. Based on the reports of the inspection drive, a total of 110 show cause notices were issued to the violators out of which, 54 proceedings have been concluded. Out of this, 31 notices were disposed of as no violations were noticed while 23 operators were directed to close down their shacks,” the department said in a statement.
Goa allocates 364 beach shacks on an annual basis and residents of Goa who are ‘unemployed’ are eligible to seek allotment of the shacks.
“During inspections, it was found that POS/UPI payments at the Beach Shack were conducted under the name of individuals who were not the original allottees and had no blood relation with them,” the department said.
{{/usCountry}}“During inspections, it was found that POS/UPI payments at the Beach Shack were conducted under the name of individuals who were not the original allottees and had no blood relation with them,” the department said.
{{/usCountry}}According to the survey conducted by the department, six shacks were with non-Goans, while the rest had sublet the shack to a fellow Goan.
“As a result, the department issued an order terminating the shack license allotted to the concerned operators, directing the immediate cessation of all activities conducted by the allottee under the Goa State Shack Policy 2023-2026, forfeiting the security deposit submitted by the allottee to the Government Treasury, and instructing the allottee to remove the Beach Shack within 15 days from the date of the order,” the department said.
A series of incidents involving beach shacks in Goa raised questions about the operations of shacks in the state. In October last year, at the beginning of the season, three veterinary doctors claimed they were assaulted by shack staff over a “petty issue”.
In December, a tourist from Andhra Pradesh, was killed and his friends injured after they entered into a fight with a shack owner and his staff over a food order, while two weeks later a tourist from Mumbai was grievously injured in a similar fight with beach shack workers. In January a local businessman was similarly killed by shack workers after a fight began over placement of beach deckbeds.
