Calangute: Even as tourism hub Calangute remains a hotspot for touts, and with police action not proving to be a deterrent, the local panchayat has decided to rely on bouncers to curb the increasing menace.
“Whenever there is police action, they disappear for a few days and then come back. So now, there will be no raids as such,” sarpanch Joseph Sequeira told TOI.
He said that the bouncers will work with ward members and panchayat staff.Whenever a tout is spotted by a panchayat member or the panchayat is informed, they will rush to the spot and apprehend the person, Sequeira said.
In a recent public notice, Sequeira informed the general public that many persons/touts operate in the jurisdiction of the panchayat, and they lure local as well as international tourists who visit Calangute.
“As a result, the tourists are taken to different hotels on the pretext of timeshare accommodation, and thereafter they feel cheated and harassed. These persons do not have permission to carry out any activity/business on the main road or in any area. This issue was discussed, and the panchayat resolved to take action against such touts by taking custody of such persons/ touts by engaging private security and vehicles and handing them over to police custody.”
Tourism stakeholders in Calangute have repeatedly been raising the issue of touts at gram sabhas, following which more than 500 such persons were rounded up and fined by Calangute police over the past one year. Despite this, new touts keep coming, panchayat members said.
According to panchayat members, after most ‘dance bars’ in Calangute were shut down, touts targeting tourists in Calangute now lure them to similar places in Arpora.
“Whenever there is police action, they disappear for a few days and then come back. So now, there will be no raids as such,” sarpanch Joseph Sequeira told TOI.
He said that the bouncers will work with ward members and panchayat staff.Whenever a tout is spotted by a panchayat member or the panchayat is informed, they will rush to the spot and apprehend the person, Sequeira said.
In a recent public notice, Sequeira informed the general public that many persons/touts operate in the jurisdiction of the panchayat, and they lure local as well as international tourists who visit Calangute.
“As a result, the tourists are taken to different hotels on the pretext of timeshare accommodation, and thereafter they feel cheated and harassed. These persons do not have permission to carry out any activity/business on the main road or in any area. This issue was discussed, and the panchayat resolved to take action against such touts by taking custody of such persons/ touts by engaging private security and vehicles and handing them over to police custody.”
Tourism stakeholders in Calangute have repeatedly been raising the issue of touts at gram sabhas, following which more than 500 such persons were rounded up and fined by Calangute police over the past one year. Despite this, new touts keep coming, panchayat members said.
According to panchayat members, after most ‘dance bars’ in Calangute were shut down, touts targeting tourists in Calangute now lure them to similar places in Arpora.