You may land in prison if you will be caught drinking on the beaches of Goa. Yes, the warning has come from none other than the state tourism minister Manohar ‘Babu’ Azgaonkar. Speaking at the Legislative Assembly during question hour, the minister said,” Government is stressing on two important plans – beach cleaning and curbing illegality on the beaches. We have also stopped people drinking on the beaches. We will not mind jailing them if required.” The minister said that the police have already slapped few cases in the past against the tourists caught drinking on the beaches.
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“We will amend the Tourism and Trade Act giving more powers. I have asked the tourist guards to be on vigil against the sale of drugs, and immediately contact the police for legal action against the accused persons. No one will be allowed to take law in their hand, even if it is a Goan,” he said in a reply to a question over beach safety.
In May this year, police in the tourist state had asked its personnel to arrest people, found drinking in public places, including beaches. At a meeting held in Calangute that month, citizens had complained about drinking on beaches as well other public places and no action being taken against them.
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Responding to another question, the state today refused to withdraw the contract signed with the lifeguard agency to man the beaches, claiming that the government could not run such services. Mr Ajgaonkar said that total 3,033 lives were saved during the last five years by the agency, which has 677 lifeguards on its roll of which 83 per cent are Goans.
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