Calangute, Jan 3 (TOI): Goa will become “the cheapest tourist destination in the world” if we don’t take urgent steps to check the uncivic behaviour of tourists, deputy speaker and Calangute MLA Michael Lobo said on Wednesday.

Chief minister Manohar Parrikar had assured me that he would issue an administrative order to empower police to penalise tourists drinking and cooking in public, but the order has still not been issued, Lobo said while talking to reporters here.

“On New Year’s morning there were thousands of discarded liquor and beer bottles on the beach stretch from Candolim to Baga, many of them broken. Because of all those broken bottles one couldn’t even walk on the beach with shoes. We put in extra labourers to clear the mess. What kind of tourism is this? Why are we promoting this kind of tourism?” he said.

TOI had reported on January 2 that beach-goers were dismayed to find the sand on many beaches across the state strewn with liquor bottles, plastic bags, food and cigarette butts, on the first morning of 2019. In the same edition TOI had also reported about tourists cooking in the open.

The deputy speaker said police need to be empowered to penalise tourists drinking and cooking in the open. “Whatever rules and regulations are required, they should be put in place. Tourists were openly cooking with gas cylinders in the parking areas in Calangute next to the parked buses. We don’t want these kind of tourists who come and litter the place,” Lobo said.

In December 2017, the chief minister had said that the government was identifying places where low budget tourists visiting the state can cook, camp and avail of toilet provisions. However, this proposal is yet to see the light of the day. “Because of this type of tourists we’re not getting quality tourists. The good tourists have gone from Goa. We need to do some thinking on why we’re not getting quality tourists. If we don’t take corrective steps now, then tourism in Goa will die a slow death,” the deputy speaker said.