Panaji: Ahead of the crucial public hearing on the draft tourism masterplan and policy, a Church body in Goa has rejected the document alleging that locals were excluded from the process.
“Having read the news about the public hearing to be conducted by the Department of Tourism on the draft tourism masterplan and policy on September 15-16, Centre for Responsible Tourism (CRT) would like to inform the government that we reject the draft tourism masterplan and policy since the local people have not been engaged in the process of planning,” Fr Maverick Fernandes said in a statement on behalf of CRT on September 14.
“This masterplan and tourism policy document is blatant in its process and content and in its current form, will achieve little. It appears that the institutions who prepared the masterplan are basically wishing away the people and are only interested in the coast and the land and that too, only to exploit them,” it stated.
Fernandes warned that the protests being witnessed in the coastal state in connection with tourism will only escalate unless due consideration was given to the “problems at hand”.
“We are asking the Department of Tourism to re-initiate the entire process, taking into consideration the concerns that have been raised,” Fernandes added.
The state government has initiated the process of conducting a public hearing as a part of finalization of the draft tourism masterplan and policy for the coastal state.
Opposition Congress has termed the process of hearing and the time-frame given to the public for submitting their suggestions and objections a “farce”.
(Source: India Today)