Five-star Hotels Must Care For Environment

JOAO BARROS-PEREIRA, CANSAULIM

Anyone who is interested in writing a capsule history of the five-star hotel industry along the beaches in Goa is going to get a bad headache. In the previous few decades, the corporate czars, who own these hotels have made it clear to the public how they do not care for the environment. All they see is ways to make a bigger profit margin and look no further. How many five-star hotels have a proper sewerage system? How much of their raw sewage is released into the sea and rivers? Are there proper ten-metre roads to the beach as is the requirement or do the ten-metre roads exist only on paper? Have they been following the rules and regulations of Coastal Regulatory Zone (CRZ)? Or is the game plan always to allow them to break the rules over the years and then change the rules? Is this development? The raw sewage is released into the sea and rivers. Our caring government warns the public not to enter the waters of Mandovi and Sal rivers – our top rivers – as you can get ill due to the level of pollution. The proposal to allow construction from 50 metres of the high tide line (HTL) is more than a horror movie, it is a full-fledged attack on the environment, our mother, nature. If we kill our mother, we kill ourselves. With regard to employment, how many Goans do the five-star hotels employ? Would the hotels be willing to release the naked facts to the public? What kind of jobs do Goans have, lower end or higher end? Do the hotels have the courage to provide these vital statistics to the public? Goans are not against five-star hotels; they should not destroy the environment and should provide jobs to the locals. What support do the five-star hotels provide to the infrastructure of the village? Our Goan villages are small and a small amount of money can uplift the face of the village as well as the spirit of the villagers. A lot of talk goes round and round with regard to social responsibility and so on. Sadly, it is mere talk. There is much to gain in winning the hearts and minds of the villagers, who live along the coastal areas in Goa.