Panaji:
Unregistered hotels have damaged Goa’s tourism industry and the only way to revive the sector is for tourism minister Manohar Agjaonkar to be sacked, the Congress said on Monday. The party also questioned the delay in conducting an inquiry into allegations levelled by the Travel and Tourism Association of Goa (TTAG) against a tourism department official.
Referring to Agjaonkar’s admission that 1.6 crore tourists visited Goa and stayed illegally at unregistered hotels, the Congress said that all these establishments were functioning with the blessings of the government.
“The open acceptance in front of the media by tourism minister that 1.6 crore tourists stayed in Goa illegally is height of shamelessness of the BJP government,” state Congress general secretary, Amarnath Panjikar, said.
The party questioned why the government did not crack down on unregistered
hotels despite hoteliers highlighting the illegalities. At a cabinet meeting held on April 8, chief minister Pramod Sawant had said that 675 tourists —86 domestic and 589 foreign — were stranded in Goa due to the nationwide lockdown. However, on June 30, data put out by the Goa International Airport shows that 9,040 foreign tourists flew out in 43 flights.
“This figure is 15 times more than the figures shown by government,” Panjikar said.
The Congress also said that TTAG has complained to the chief minister about a senior officer of the tourism department, who was collecting 30% commission on behalf of the tourism minister.
“This is the precise reason why hardly 250 out of 3,599 registered hotels applied for reopening of their hotel properties after the lockdown was lifted,” Panjikar said.
The party did not reveal the name of the officer, but challenged Sawant to refute the allegations.
“The chief minister has not initiated an inquiry into the allegations and that makes us believe that the chief minister or the government or maybe the party is getting a commission,” Panjikar said.