Empty beer bottles lay scattered at Baga beach on Friday. Vincent Braganza
MAPUSA
With packed crowds, comprising domestic tourists, the roar on the Calangute beach and streets refused to die down for the New Year, even as roads along the Calangute-Baga coastal belt witnessed bumper-to-bumper traffic but the buzz of last year and previous to that was definitely missing this time.
The mandatory health SOPs were totally flouted as most of the tourists failed to even wear a mask.
Popular restaurants and shacks on the beach made roaring business on Thursday and Friday, as tourists mainly from Maharashtra, Karnataka and Telangana flocked to the beach side to party.
Rave parties were in full flow along the Anjuna-Vagator coastal belt. Several nightspots along the Anjuna coastline witnessed high decibel music till 6 am on New Year's day. The party at the Sunburn Beach Club, which has been embroiled in controversy, started at 7.30 pm on December 31 and lasted till 6 the next morning.
“The crowd in Calangute and Baga was massive. But it was a decent crowd and not the usual riff-raff people who come in Trax and Tempo Travellers. Most shacks and restaurants along the beach did good business,” said Shawn Martins, panchayat member of Calangute.
In contrast, Candolim witnessed a sizeable number of desi tourists roaming in shorts.
“There were a lot of tourists on the Candolim beach and roaming on the streets but most of them were cheap tourists who loitered around in shorts and banyans,” said Roshan Mathias, a resident of Candolim.
He said most of the tourists who drove down in their own vehicles parked them on the side of the roads and on footpaths.
“The government should not allow tourists to bring their cars during the Christmas and New Year. They should be allowed to park their vehicles on the border and the Goan taxi-drivers should be given opportunity,” Mathias said.
He also pointed out that the mandatory health protocols were flouted by most of the tourists.
“Tourists are welcome. But the way the government has handled the mad rush was horrible. The SOPs were totally flouted and authorities failed to implement them,” the Candolim resident opined.
According to the secretary of the Shack Owners Association John Lobo, the restaurants and shacks on the Calangute and Baga side made brisk business compared to Candolim.
He said New Year’s Eve witnessed a mad rush along the beach belt and on some roads like the Tito’s lane was packed with tourists.
Incidentally, the big buses that poured during the festive season were missing this year.
“Probably, due to Covid people preferred to come in cars and gave the buses a miss,” Lobo said.
“We had a good crowd but we definitely cannot compare it to the last year or previous to that,” he added.
