Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar on Thursday announced that the new water sports policy will be in force by September this year. “The new water sports policy has been drafted and is now under scrutiny. It will be in force by September,” Parrikar stated.
PANAJI
The House was informed that the new policy will focus on four aspects namely environmental degradation, carrying capacity of beaches, local fishermen and safety.
CM Parrikar further declared that 60 per cent of the water sports licenses will be reserved for villagers from the adjacent villages while the remaining 40 per cent will give first preference to the applicants from the respective district. "One-third of the licenses will be replaced every three years and malpractices will be weeded out," the Chief Minister stated.
The announcement came in response to Benaulim MLA Churchill Alemao's query about the licensing policy for water sports. In 2014, 134 such licenses were issued while in 2015, the number went down to 105. In 2016, 161 water sports licenses were issued while this year, 69 licenses have been issued so far. The govt has records of 1,470 licenses issued till date.
Alemao expressed concern about the high number of licenses held by individual water sport operators across Goa. The govt acknowledged the drawback in the present licensing policy and admitted that there are no specific criteria for issue of water sports license to a single person.
