A team of officials visited Gopalpur-on-Sea here on Monday and identified a suitable site for opening of the Tourism Department’s proposed “Beach Shacks” (foreign liquor shops/bars) and reviewed the situation there. Tourist Officers Dr Ratikanta Pattnaik and Surendra Mahapatra, Gopalpur Revenue Inspector Santosh Kumar Bisoyi, Assistant Inspector Amiya Kumar Nayak and Amins B Kameswar and Giridhari Bisoyi were present. Notably, in order to attract foreign tourists in particular, the Tourism Department is contemplating to implement a plethora of tourist-friendly projects in all the six major sea beaches of the State including Gopalpur.
Accordingly, permission for opening of Beach Shacks in these sea beaches has already been accorded. According to the plan, within an area of 2,400 sq. meters, a total of five liquor shops would be established at Gopalpur with an ambience at par with the Goa sea beach, sources said.But when local people came to know that the Gopalpur sea beach is going have Beach Shacks, they opposed the move stating that the objections raised by them were already conveyed to the Tourism Minister, OTDC MD and Ganjam Collector through e-complaint/e-mail on August 2 on which no action has yet been taken.
Sources also said that during the visit of the officials, local social worker Panchu Behera and Gopalpur Fishermen’s Union president S Daneya submitted a memorandum to the team opposing the idea of opening liquor shops on the beach.
They said that since the Gopalpur beach is one of the most important tourist centres, the Government has initiated a plethora of development measures to make the beach more attractive and tourist-friendly.
Now, the move for opening liquor joints is not acceptable. However, only a few organisations and social activists have opposed the Beach Shacks idea while others consider the move as positive stating that it would boost the economy of the region.