HC asks Goa tourism department to raze illegal constructions on Calangute-Baga beach belt

Panaji: The Goa bench of the Bombay High Court has directed the state tourism department to pull down illegal constructions and businesses operating on the Calangute and Baga beach stretch of the state.

The high court issued the directions on Tuesday while hearing a petition filed against the illegal constructions on the Baga-Anjuna belt in North Goa district.

State Advocate General Devidas Pangam said the court has directed the department of Tourism to initiate stringent action against the illegal constructions and ensure that they don't come up again anywhere in the state.

The court also asked the government to ensure that water and electricity connections to such illegal constructions are disconnected, and ordered that criminal action be initiated against the existing and ongoing illegal constructions on beaches, Pangam said.

The advocate general said the state environment department has also been directed to recover the cost of environmental damage from the owners of these illegal constructions.

He said the court asked the department of Tourism to remove all the illegal constructions which have come up on the beaches in Calangute and Baga.

Pangam said the department of Tourism and other state authorities have pulled down several illegal constructions along this beach stretch and that more such structures would be removed within two months.

"The high court has said that the director of the state tourism department should take up the responsibility of ensuring that there are no illegal activities. Any illegal encroachments, including signages which are erected on the beach, have to be removed and it has to be done swiftly," he said.