Each word in Goa Tourism Policy document costs Rs 8,619: Opposition  

Opposition party Goa Forward on Wednesday demanded the immediate withdrawal of the Goa Tourism Policy 2020, calling the document inordinately expensive and drafted with little awareness about ground realities.

The demand made by the party's vice president Dilip Prabhudesai, comes a day after three top trade bodies in Goa expressed unhappiness over the policy and cautioned Chief Minister Pramod Sawant against its implementation until specific feedback and correctives were received from stakeholder organisations.

"The Goa Tourism Policy 2020 should be denotified. The intent, content and timing of the policy document is bad. There is nothing new in it, but it is inordinately expensive," Prabhudesai told a press conference on Wednesday.

"It is a 12 page policy containing 50,801 words for which Rs 5 crore has been paid as fee to a consultant. If we break it down, the cost amounts to Rs 8619 per word, which is ridiculous considering the policy is nothing but a rehash of information available on the Internet. It is a waste of taxpayers money," Prabhudesai said. He added that the policy was mum or directionless on key issues like the casino industry, coal import and its repercussions on tourism as well as aspects of environment concern.

On Tuesday, the three trade bodies -- Goa chapter of the Confederation of Indian Industry, the Goa Chamber of Commerce and Industries and the Travel and Tourism Association of Goa -- had expressed dissatisfaction over the tourism policy 2020 urging Chief Minister Pramod Sawant to keep its implementation on hold until crucial inputs were submitted by the three organisations.

In a joint representation, the heads of the three organisations had requested Sawant "to ensure that the Goa Tourism Policy is not implemented till the inputs from us are received" and to "make sure that the Goa Tourism Board is not formulated, until the inputs from us are taken up for joint discussions."