Goa shack owners seek waiver on registration fees

COLVA: Shack owners met tourism minister Manohar Ajgaonkar at his residence and urged him to waive off registration and beach bed fees for the upcoming season.
President of the Shack Owners Welfare Society (SOWS) Cruz Cardozo said that they had approached the minister to thank him for formulating the shack policy before time. The government had set itself a deadline of September 15.
Members of the society urged Ajgaonkar to do away with the registration fees. Cardozo informed the minister that Goa Electronics Limited (GEL) was charging them 20 per cent of the shack fees imposed by the tourism ministry for online registration. “We do not want to go through GEL. We want the tourism department to process the applications for shacks,” he said.
According to sizes, the shack fees for this season are Rs 1 lakh for the first category, and Rs 75,000 and Rs 60,000 for the next two categories.
Members said that the fees being charged should be inclusive of 10 beach beds for all shacks.
In his response, Ajgaonkar said that he would raise these concerns before the tourism department. However, he said that any irregularities like sub-letting shacks to a third party would not be tolerated and result in their licences being cancelled.
He added that garbage generated by them should be segregated at source and all staff must have identity cards.