BY PRAVEENA SHARMA
The umbilical cord between the traditional shack operators and their beach shacks is not easy to snap. This is what Tourism Minister Rohan Khaunte and the tourism department learnt the hard way.
A week after obtaining the cabinet nod for the Goa State Beach Shack Policy 2023-2026, the minister was compelled to retract the controversial age criterion from it. The new-age rule had threatened to make a large section of the traditional shack operators ineligible for application.
It would have, at the stroke of a pen, hit at the livelihood of the old players in the shack business. The new rule on age, which stipulated the age of applicants between 18 years and 60 years, would have pushed majority of the current public shack owners out of the race.
It would have inflicted grave injustice on players, who have grown organically over the decades. For many of them, beach shacks have become their primary or the only source of income as they had to shun other occupations just to adhere to one of the shack allotment guidelines.
The new rule on age, which stipulated the age of applicants between 18 years and 60 years, would have pushed majority of the current public shack owners out of the race
Among the various rules of Goa’s Tourism Shack Policy, one of them specifically states: “The applicants shall not be employed and engaged, directly or indirectly, in any other business, vocation or profession”. This has kept those serious about qualifying for shack allotment from relying on any other means of income.
Besides this, the old timers have also poured money into their shack business to sustain it over the years and are thoroughly fine-tuned to its operational nuances. All their effort and knowledge would have come to nothing if the new rule would have forced them out of the game.
Interestingly, a lot of them began their shack journey much before its policy came into existence. What started with Goan fishermen serving food to stray visitors on the state’s beaches in the 1960s, and then playing host to Hippies, who descended in hordes in the late 60s, is today a full-blown commercial activity, regulated by the state and its various agencies.
In the 80s, shack owners were governed by The Goa Registration of Tourist Trade Act, 1982 and Rules, 1985. For a brief period, they faced existential crisis with the notification of the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ), 1991 by the central environment ministry, which made the rules for traditional inhabitants of coastal areas stringent.
What started with Goan fishermen serving food to stray visitors on the state’s beaches in the 1960s, and then playing host to Hippies, who descended in hordes in the late 60s, is today a full-blown commercial activity
Under the CRZ, 1991, temporary and seasonal structures between 100 metres and 200 metres from high tide line (HTL) along the seafront were considered illegal. In 2011, the then state environment minister Aleixo Sequeira took up the matter with the central ministry and succeeded in securing relaxation for the shack owners with notification of the new CRZ, 2011.
Another milestone was achieved in 2013, when the late chief minister Manohar Parrikar increased the term of shack license to three years. This offered ease of doing business to the shack operators.
Today, shacks have become synonymous with Goa and generate a decent revenue for the government. The license fee charged under various categories for over 300 public beach shacks ranged from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 1.4 lakh last year.
Apart from this, shack owners shell out money for obtaining approvals and permissions from various government authorities. The new policy is likely to hike the license fee by 10 per cent.
Today, shacks have become synonymous with Goa and generate a decent revenue for the government.
As government charges swell, they are bloating the operational cost of shack operators and biting into their profits.
The department is also dissatisfied with toilet hygiene, sewage and kitchen water disposal and wants allottees to pump in more funds for the upkeep and upgradation of shacks. The latter complain of being cash-crunched due to rising operational expenses.
They also quibble over issues of subletting, effective policing of hawkers, drug traffickers, masseurs, vagabonds and others.
These tussles of interests between the two sides (shack operators and the government) must have seen the tourism department adopting an iron fist approach in formulating its shack policy.
At the centre of all this is the old players continue to run their shacks as mom-and-pop business while the government is keen on getting organised players with fat wallets into it
At the centre of all this is the old players continue to run their shacks as mom-and-pop business while the government is keen on getting organised players with fat wallets into it.
Such a shift in the profile of the shack owners would ensure better control over them by the government and boost state revenues. For now, though, traditional players refuse to give way to new players without a fight.