The Goa department of tourism has started cracking down on private shack operators encroaching on the beaches by laying tables and chairs as flow of domestic tourists increased during the last fortnight.
In what could be deemed as the first attempt by the tourism department to act against beach illegalities even before the season begins, the department's executive magistrates conducted three raids this week on the beach stretches of Baga and Calangute and confiscated over 50 chairs, tables and dismantled deck beds.
A tourism official said, "private beach shack operators having shacks adjacent to the beach area indulge in illegalities despite the presence of IRB personnel patrolling the beaches."
The Independence Day holiday during last week attracted a lot of domestic tourists to Calangute, Candolim and Baga beaches. "Due to the extended weekend a lot of tourists came down to Goa and our local businessmen wanting to make most of it had tables and chairs on the beach," the official added.
The department received a lot of complaints from IRB police patrolling the beaches who are also supposed to act against the illegalities. The IRB personnel on the contrary have been merely intimating the department of what's happening instead of acting on their own. In one of its raids conducted on Friday afternoon following a complaint from IRB, the raiding party seized 33 tables and 12 cane and plastic chairs from beaches at Calangute and Baga.
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