On October 31, 2022, Tourism Director Nikhil Desai, IAS, invoked powers vested in him by the Goa Tourist Places Protection and Maintenance Act, 2001 and by an order declared a set of 10 activities as "Nuisance". These activities, including driving vehicles on shores or cooking in open places among others, Desai decreed in the order will attract fines between Rs 5,000 to Rs 50,000 besides attracting criminal prosecution under section 188 of the IPC.
Desai also declared in the order that police officers in charge of police stations will act as 'competent authority' to implement the order and penalise violators.
Desai's intended objective behind issuing the order was to clean up the image of Goa's tourist spots, which via the portrayal of such unsavoury happenings in the recent past has seemingly damaged the brand and is an enigma to the government's intended shift in gears to attract a better profile and higher-spending tourists.
What is nuisance
Desai's order declares the following activities as "nuisance": Operation of boating and water sports activities outside notified and demarcated zones; cooking in open spaces and littering; touting and selling tickets for tourism activities in open spaces and spots other than authorized counters; begging in tourist places; unauthorized hawking; illegal placement of deck-beds at beaches; driving vehicles on beaches; drinking liquor in the open and breaking glass bottles in tourist places.
Interestingly, the order issued by Desai also lists as a 'nuisance' and prosecutable the activities aimed at promoting and selling tickets and packages of tourist services offered outside Goa including "Malwan" and "Karwar".
Cops empowered
The order gives powers to police officers manning police stations across Goa to act as 'competent authority' to implement the directive.
Violators of the order, according to Desai, will attract fines of Rs 5,000 and which can extend up to Rs 50,000. They could in addition also be prosecuted under section 188 of the Indian Penal Code
