Will request NGT to allow beach shacks, says Goa CM

Will request NGT to allow beach shacks, says Goa CM

Pramod Sawant. (File Photo: IANS)

Panaji, Sep 16 (IANS) With Goa's tourism season set to kick off just a couple of weeks later, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Monday said that his government would plead before the National Green Tribunal for permission to set up beach shacks along the coastline.

The NGT last week had slammed the state government for not keeping to its August 30 deadline, vis a vis submission of the draft Coastal Zone Management plan. It had also directed the Goa government, to not issue licences for setting up of beach shacks -- which are popular with tourists -- until submission of the plan document.

"The stand we have taken, is that we will submit the plan by November 30. We will also ask the NGT to permit us to give licences for shack owners, because tourist season is starting from October 1," Sawant told reporters here.

The Coastal Zone Management plan formally demarcates areas in the coastal areas into commercial, environment and no development zones.

Serving food and drinks, shacks are synonymous with Goa's beaches but have to be disbanded with the onset of monsoons every year. The official tourism season of Goa starts on October 1 and winds up on May 31.

--IANS

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