Goa beaches are off limits for hawkers

Panchayats decide to ban Kashmiris for being a nuisance

PANAJI: Tourists swimming or walking on the beaches in South Goa have got back something they had lost in the last few seasons — peace and quiet.

Village panchayats in the region got together and decided to ban the 1000-odd Kashmiris and Lamaanis from hawking their wares on the beaches. Media reports of Goa facing a terrorist threat and the arrest of a Kashmiri terrorist at Margao with one kg RDX in March this year are the reasons being attributed for this drastic action.

South Goa with its 12 beaches running from Canacona in its north to Cavelossim in its south, caters to nearly two lakh tourists in nearly 10 five star hotels whose clientele are more well-heeled than the ones that settle for guest houses in the north. These tourists have found themselves surrounded and pestered by these hawkers selling mirror work sarongs, jewellery, beads and assorted bric-a-brac.

The general manager of a hotel told DNA, “We have even received complaints from our guests that their things have been stolen, sometimes even their passports, when they have gone for a swim.” This hotelier and others in the south are relieved that the panchayats have shut down the hawkers.

Snowkon Gonsalves, Colva sarpanch, told DNA, “We have deployed security guards on the beaches to prevent these hawkers from harassing tourists.” He agrees that similar action has been taken in the past but both the hawkers have returned. In fact when Micky Pacheco was the tourism minister a couple of years ago, a drive was carried out all over the state to ban illegal hawkers.

Lyndon Monteiro, an aide of Pacheco who is Benaulim's MLA says, “We were getting complaints that the Kashmiris and Lamaanis sell drugs, are involved in the flesh trade and indulge in other nefarious activities. It's good that villagers in this belt said ‘enough is enough’ and pressurised their respective panchayats to put a stop to them.”

But like in the shacks issue, things are not so black and white. In fact, a survey carried out by the Benaulim panchayat on November 9 revealed that many of the shops run by Kashmiris are owned by locals. What’s more — except a few- the others have obtained permission from the panchayat to run their businesses.

On the one hand, the Benaulim Tourist Taxi Operators have been very vocal about removing the hawkers and on the other, locals have said that they would lose income if Kashmiris were removed. Gonsalves is defensive saying, “When someone comes to me for a licence to run a shop and all his papers are in order, it would be against the law for me to refuse.” Beanalim sarpanch Guilhermina Leitao disclosed that during the survey of 32 shops, many locals pretended that the Kashmiris they had leased their shops to were “employees.”

The hawkers who have the licences complain that at the beginning of the tourists season - it officially kicked off on October 15 - they are being harassed. Even the Lamaanis on the beach complain that they are voters and have every right to do business. They are hoping that the situation settles down and they can go back to earning their livelihood.