PANAJI: Even the increased presence of tourist police has not completely stopped the entry of vendors on the beaches. Vendors are not permitted to sell goods on the beaches, yet they are found on almost all as if a permanent feature, though their numbers may differ from beach to beach. A tourism official said that a major challenge before them is to find a solution to this problem and it will be their priority. "Removing touts and vendors from the beaches will be important to us," the official said. The tourist police have their own justification for not being able to end the nuisance of hawkers on the beaches, while at some beach stretches even children can be found either begging or selling goods. A tourist police posted at Calangute beach, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that they try their best to chase the vendors away but when the beach is full of tourists, it is not easy to keep tabs on all of them. The police, he said, gets called when there is a problem - someone is drowning, tourists fight, lifeguards call when tourists don't heed their advice not to swim in "no swim zones". "We have seized goods from several vendors, but a few days later, they return and it is not easy to stop all of them," a tourist police personnel said. It is like a free for all at the Arambol beach which sees a heavy flow of domestic tourists. Here, there is a mix of vendors - locals, outsiders as well as a few foreigners - who display their goods, but mostly in the evenings. A shack owner from Arambol said, some of the local vendors seen selling fruits or tea are permitted by the panchayat, while the rest have the 'blessing' of someone or the other. "They are doing their business because they are protected," the shack operator alleged. The worst thing, he said, is children begging or selling goods. "When footfalls are high, more vendors descend on the beach. The children who beg are under the wings of vendors and nobody catches them," the shack operator said. He said the locals working as hawkers on the beach are few, most are from Karnataka and Maharashtra who visit Goa during the tourism season. Some double as masseurs. "Whether local or non-local, those operating illegally should be stopped but I think, over the years, the problem has grown so big that the authorities find it difficult to catch them," he said.
Panaji: Even the increased presence of tourist police has not completely stopped the entry of vendors on the beaches. Vendors are not permitted to sell goods on the beaches, yet they are found on almost all as if a permanent feature, though their numbers may differ from beach to beach. A tourism official said that a major challenge before them is to find a solution to this problem and it will be their priority. “Removing touts and vendors from the beaches will be important to us,” the official said. The tourist police have their own justification for not being able to end the nuisance of hawkers on the beaches, while at some beach stretches even children can be found either begging or selling goods. A tourist police posted at Calangute beach, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that they try their best to chase the vendors away but when the beach is full of tourists, it is not easy to keep tabs on all of them. The police, he said, gets called when there is a problem — someone is drowning, tourists fight, lifeguards call when tourists don’t heed their advice not to swim in “no swim zones”. “We have seized goods from several vendors, but a few days later, they return and it is not easy to stop all of them,” a tourist police personnel said. It is like a free for all at the Arambol beach which sees a heavy flow of domestic tourists. Here, there is a mix of vendors — locals, outsiders as well as a few foreigners — who display their goods, but mostly in the evenings. A shack owner from Arambol said, some of the local vendors seen selling fruits or tea are permitted by the panchayat, while the rest have the ‘blessing’ of someone or the other. “They are doing their business because they are protected,” the shack operator alleged. The worst thing, he said, is children begging or selling goods. “When footfalls are high, more vendors descend on the beach. The children who beg are under the wings of vendors and nobody catches them,” the shack operator said. He said the locals working as hawkers on the beach are few, most are from Karnataka and Maharashtra who visit Goa during the tourism season. Some double as masseurs. “Whether local or non-local, those operating illegally should be stopped but I think, over the years, the problem has grown so big that the authorities find it difficult to catch them,” he said.
