It is not the new story as everybody in Goa is aware of this fact. The foreign nationals, especially the Russians come to Goa on tourist Visa and take up the jobs or manage their own businesses here. Most of the foreigner staff appointed in the hotels and clubs is here on tourist Visa.
Recently the story published by the national daily Times of India, it has been brought to the light that foreigners coming to Goa on tourist Visa are involved into the hosting of music shows and late night parties in the north coastal belts of Goa. They are actively organizing and managing the parties in Goa right under the nose of the police. How many foreigner DJs have the working Visa? The question always remains unanswered.
The ladies bartenders used in the clubs to pull the crowd are mainly foreigners and obviously do not possess the working Visa. The reports reveal that even the graphic designing of the posters and flyers are done by these foreign nationals who apparently knows the taste of foreign tourist and designs the stuff accordingly.
These foreign nationals who are raking money in the state under various forms are not even registered anywhere. In a clear term, they cease to exist legally into the businesses or profession in Goa while in reality they are involved into the commercial activities.
Although the quantum of the Russian national is more but at the same time there are other nationals such as English, German, Swedish & Israelis are involved into the organizing and managing the beach parties across the coastal belts in north Goa.
It is the fact that more and more foreigners are getting involved into the commercial activities in Goa. But is it possible that this could just happen without the support of locals? Sounds little difficult, right? But it is the fact; many local Goans make use of these foreigner “Friends” to attract more business from tourists. The engagement of local make the job of foreigners easier and they do not have to fear about the law and police.
The claims made by the tourism department and authorities of making money in a form of entertainment taxes goes for the toss as they do not make any money from these illegal endeavors. The Chief Minister of Goa Laxmikant Parsekar claims openly in the media that Goans are responsible for this scenario. “Since local Goans do not mind taking the foreigners as partners into their businesses and handing over their businesses to them (foreigners) by collecting their (Goans) part of the profits. “Goans are simply susegad (Relaxed) and they don’t mind even if their foreigners partner “Friend” making more money into the business,” said Parsekar.
According to the TNN media reporter, the government is not taking any action against such illegal acts since the concern authorities are helpless as the businesses are registered in the name of locals (although it is run by foreigners). Parsekar also claimed that majority of Russians run the business of language learning school and it is mushrooming in the state.
All the people related to the Goa’s tourism industry, from taxi drivers to the restaurant and shack owners are in process of learning the Russian language since they need to deal with the Russian tourist and learning the language is the only way of breaking the communication barrier with the Russian tourists and this also reduces the cost of hiring the expensive Russian guides.
The sources have also revealed that there will be around 80 such illegal parties which are going to take place in various parts of Goa during these three days. The foreigners will just hire the places around conducting the parties and disperse without paying a penny to the government treasury.
According to Suraj Morajkar, an hotelier and MD of Sun Estates Developers, Government authorities needs to crack down on the foreigners running the illegal businesses in Goa. “However, I feel that it is the opportunity they have taken which is exciting due to lack in international standard and a certain amount of professionalism in the state. We need to raise the standards of our services in a way to stop them taking the advantage of the situation.”
Source: TNN
