While licenses for 350 shacks were issued under the beach shack policy 2013-16, the tourism department has now proposed to give additional licences for 17 shacks.
Some fear this is a backdoor entry for shacks that have been erected illegally. About a dozen beach shacks have come up in the beach stretches of Calangute and Candolim which the department is yet to demolish as per a TOI report.
The tourism department has moved a file to the government seeking permission to allow more shacks than what has been permitted earlier.
A source said this is simply to accommodate influential shacks operators who failed to get through a draw of lots. Beach shacks are allotted by a draw of lots and with a final approval from Goa coastal zone management authority.
Additional shacks are proposed for Candolim (10), Calangute (3), Arambol (1), Anjuna (1), Mandrem (1) and Benaulim (1).
Speaking to TOI, last week, tourism minister Dilip Parulekar had said that illegal shacks have been erected on beach stretches of Candolim and Calangute. He also stated that illegal operators had been asked to remove their shacks within two days or department officials would remove them.
No illegal shacks have been demolished since then.
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