SP gets a tongue lashing for shooing away tourists (herald)

SP gets a tongue lashing for shooing away tourists August 10, 2013 Mandrekar questions wisdom of setting up extra police stations TEAM?HERALD CALANGUTE: Concerned that a police crackdown on rave parties along the Anjuna coast had affected tourism, Minister for Art & Culture Dayanand Mandrekar on Friday rebuked a senior police officer for “driving away tourists” from the area. Mandrekar also questioned the wisdom of setting up extra police stations in the State, if law enforcement agencies did not have a good security system in place, but he insisted that high security should never hinder the growth of tourism along the coastal belt. Addressing a function after inaugurating the Coastal Security Police Station at Chapora, Mandrekar took senior police officials by surprise by publicly chiding SP (Traffic) Vijay Singh for his crackdown, while earlier serving as the north Goa SP, on tourism-related activities like rave parties in the coastal belt of Anjuna. “We have had incidents like one police officer Vijay Singh who cracked-down on rave parties in the coastal belt of Anjuna, which has directly or indirectly affected the tourism business. We should try and understand that tourism is the only source of generating income for the State, in the wake of a closure of mining activities in the State.” “Singh’s crackdown on tourism-related activities was uncalled for and was driving away the tourists from this coastal belt, thereby denying a livelihood for many people dependent on tourism in Anjuna,” remarked Mandrekar, while mincing no words to express his displeasure with SP Vijay Singh who, incidentally, was also present at the function. The minister also insisted that additional police stations along the coast should not jeopardize tourism in the area. “Merely opening extra police stations for coastal security will not serve any purpose unless and until we take preventive measures and quick actions on intelligence inputs. Terrorists can enter the state through any means and not necessarily only through the coastline. So we need to be ready to prevent them from entering Goa through a good security system.” “However, high security should never come in the way of tourism and should not affect its growth in the coastal belt,” said Mandrekar. Among the senior police officials who spoke on the occasion included DGP Kishen Kumar and DIG O P Mishra. Flag Officer Commanding Goa Naval Area Rear Admiral Balvinder Singh Prahar also addressed the function. Others present at the function included SPs Vishram Borkar, Arvind Gawas, Shekar Prabhudessai and Vijay Singh, DIG Coast Guard M V Baadkar, PWD Chief Engineer J Rego, Anjuna-Caisua Panchas Dinesh Patil and Sheetal Dabholkar. http://www.heraldgoa.in/News/Local%20News/SP-gets-a-tongue-lashing-for-shooing-away-tourists/78019.html