Panaji: Tourism minister Rohan Khaunte on Friday said that while cracking down on touts remains the department’s priority, Goa police has to play its role in curbing the unauthorised activity.“We don’t need a new law to deal with touts. To put an end to touts, police should be informed and they should detain them. This question has to be asked to the police,” said Khaunte. “Since 2022, cleaning of touts has been the primary task that is required for good tourism.”Khaunte said that he has been continuously discussing this issue with the chief minister and that the two were on the same page. “But unfortunately, we are yet to see the results that we expected. The touts are still seen. I have told the DGP, I told the SP. If you travel through Panaji in the evening or in the morning, you can see these touts. Where are they coming from? They are not Goans and they don’t care about Goans and Goa. But they don’t just sell tickets, they sell all kinds of things and spoil Goa’s name,” said Khaunte.He said that mere imposition of fines would not solve the practice and presence of touts. He said that the police should use all legal provisions to jail offenders or send them back to their respective states. “Continuous action from the police and the tourist police is necessary to cleanse touts. As per law, they should be sent to their states and repeated offenders should be put in jail,” said Khaunte.He also said that govt remains committed to support shack operators.“Earlier, by the time the shacks were set up, it used to be Dec. Tourists coming here and searching for shacks was the trend,” said Khaunte.Shack operators met Khaunte to thank him and to request tourism director Kedar Naik to complete the demarcation process quickly so that shacks can be erected by the end of Sep. “We are ready to welcome the tourists. The govt has always supported us,” said a shack operator. He said that the shack operators are against sub-letting of shacks, particularly to operators from other states.
