Times of India | 1 month ago | 03-02-2023 | 06:00 pm
CALANGUTE: Tourism stakeholders at Baga are taken aback to learn that the parking contractor of the GTDC pay-and-park facility has allegedly converted a part of the pay toilet into a garment shop and a tattoo parlour. Moreover, the security booth outside the tourist information centre (TIC) has been turned into a stall selling tender coconuts. The TIC itself will shortly have an ice-cream parlour, with a signboard already in place.The parking facility has been contracted to a Karnataka company. The contractor had recently landed a helicopter carrying his family members at the parking lot.In 2021, following objections from stakeholders, a fast-food restaurant which had been opened at the Candolim TIC was shut down.Calangute MLA Michael Lobo had in the past opposed attempts by the tourism minister at the time, Manohar Azjaonkar, to convert TICs into commercial outlets. “International tourist destinations such as Bali and Sri Lanka have information centres on prominent beaches where tourists can get information about the places to visit,” Lobo had said.“We want such facilities here in Candolim and Calangute and on all other beaches in Goa.”According to GTDC, it has appointed a contractor to manage the TICs.The development of the sprawling GTDC property at Baga including the paid-parking lot, toilets and the tourist information centre had been carried out by the state government under the ‘Swadesh Darshan’ scheme of the central government about six years ago.The Centre had sanctioned Rs 100 crore to the state government for developing various facilities for tourists in the ‘coastal tourism circuit’. Parking lots, toilets and TICs were part of the plan.The foundation stones for the development of facilities at Baga, Calangute and Candolim were laid in 2014 by the CM at the time, Manohar Parrikar. Baga and Calangute facilities were inaugurated in 2016, and Candolim facilities two years ago.