To avoid harassment, tourist vehicles entering Goa to be given unique stickers: CM

Panaji: Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Wednesday said that tourists entering the state will be given unique stickers to fix on their vehicles, so they are not harassed (by police) while moving across the coastal state.

Sawant, while presenting the budget of the fiscal year, said that documents of tourist vehicles will be checked at the border check posts.

"In order to allow tourists a comfortable movement across the state, vehicles entering Goa will be thoroughly checked at the border for the documents and will be given unique stickers to fix on their vehicles. Such vehicles will not be stopped (by police) for checking documents anywhere in the state," Sawant said.

Of late, tourists have been raising complaints on social media that they were stopped to check documents of vehicles and were being harassed.

Few months ago, Goa Revenue Minister Atanasio Monserrate had said that traffic police were actually harassing tourists by fining them, instead of solving traffic problems existing in the coastal state.

"I see police constables standing at one corner only and giving challans to tourists and they do nothing more than that. They are basically here to solve the traffic problem, but they are not doing that," Monserrate, Panaji MLA, had said.

He said that to resolve the issue of traffic jams, he often discusses the issue with concerned traffic Police, but 4 to 5 constables stand at one place to challan tourists.

Tourism Minister Rohan Khaunte had also claimed that the tourists are being routinely harassed in Goa by traffic police officials, and had said that efforts would be made to make the state and its environs more hospitable to tourists.