Obeying the laws at the beach on a trip to Goa

The growing stubbornness of tourists who venture into the waters on Goan beaches often under the influence of alcohol and by ignoring all caution and safety precautions, needs to be checked before the situation goes out of hand and the government of Goa gets a bad name.

Tourists from the country come to Goa for a holiday and many of them lose their lives due to drowning. More often than not, the reason for such drowning incidents are the stubborn attitudes of the tourists themselves who fail to pay heed to instructions clearly laid out for them at all the beaches in Goa and continuously cautioned by lifeguards.

Some Indian tourists who have never seen the beaches before are suddenly thrust onto an arena which is too alluring and tempting to be left alone. In their overzealousness such tourists discard all safety norms and venture out into the seas  as if they were some modern day phantoms.

Moreover once they get onto the Goan beach, alcohol seems to be their wanton necessity freely flowing into them like a much needed aphrodisiac . Finally, when they end up drowning, the fair name of Goa is sullied and its beaches are considered unsafe for swimming.

This belligerence of Indian tourists needs to be arrested with a firm hand. The government of Goa should enforce strict laws for tourists to comply with, and any contraventions should be punished with  hefty fines. Don't we get punished for contravening road safety? So why is beach safety not treated similarly? Tourists are expected to swim between the red and yellow flag posts and leave the areas under the red flag posts. But Indian tourists often flout these instructions and only foreigners and Goans are seen diligently following them.

Drowning on Goan beaches has somehow become a regular phenomenon, more often due to tourists carelessness than otherwise. The government of Goa is spending crores of rupees on beach lifeguards, but Indian tourists are taking the safety precautions for granted which should  be shown minimum tolerance.

The strict enforcement of rules may displease some tourists for a while but in the long run Goa will be rendered a much more safer place to have fun and enjoy. After all, no one wants to die when on a fun trip leaving families and friends shocked beyond consolation.

The Goa government will surely reap the benefits of stricter norms in the long run. After all Goa is a place for sun sea sand and fun and that is what people all over the world have to remember it for.

Xittuk Goencar