Inspectors to be deployed at Panaji heritage sites to monitor tourist decorum

Mayor Rohit Monserrate said that, as a trial, an inspector would be deployed along with a team of workers

Panaji: The Corporation of the City of Panaji (CCP) will deploy municipality inspectors at Goa’s tourist heritage areas to maintain decorum among tourists, mayor Rohit Monserrate said on Saturday.

Residents of Panjim’s heritage neighbourhoods San Tomé and Fontainhas said that they are facing issues because narrow streets are blocked by impromptu photoshoots, noisy tourists peeking into people’s homes, urination in the streets (Saumya Sharma/HT)

Monserrate, who attended a council meeting on Friday, said that, as a trial, an inspector would be deployed along with a team of workers. “As of now, we will deploy an inspector there with some workers. Just to maintain some kind of decorum. The tourists are quite unconcerned about the lives of these people,” he said.

“We can just request them. It is not that these areas are all commercial. We still have a lot of residents living there. We will try and if this doesn’t work then we will come up with a different solution,” he added.

Residents of Panjim’s heritage neighbourhoods San Tomé and Fontainhas, referred to as the Latin quarter, said that they are facing issues because the narrow streets are blocked by impromptu photoshoots replete with professional equipment, noisy tourists peeking into or entering people’s homes, urination in the streets, etc.

Requesting a streamlining of traffic and parking in heritage areas, the residents said the presence of police or wardens might help regulate crowds in the area.

Monserrate had assures action last year after a delegation of residents called demanded solutions to “mass tourism” that has “transformed their peaceful neighbourhood into a noisy and intrusive” experience. The outcry had came in the backdrop of a clash between locals and tourists who were doing a photoshoot along a narrow street, during which a resident threatened the tourist group with a stick after they refused to leave when asked to do so.

The Latin Quarter, which dates back to the 1800s when Goa’s capital was shifted from Old Goa to Panjim, is today home to around 3,500 residents, a majority of whom are senior citizens. The neighbourhood also hosts heritage guesthouses, restaurants, cafés, as well as schools, offices, and other establishments.