Arambol murder: Shack loses licence, Goa govt orders its razing

Panaji: The tourism department cancelled the shack licence of Sea Lounge beach shack at Arambol and ordered the demolition of the shack, which was allotted to Manuel Fernandes. The action comes as part of the crackdown against the subletting of beach shacks and in the wake of Amar Bandekar’s murder by Sea Lounge beach shack’s waiters.

The department also imposed a penalty of Rs 25 lakh on Fernandes for violating the shack policy. Fernandes was permanently blacklisted and debarred from participating in any future shack allotment processes , officials said.

According to tourism director Kedar Naik, Fernandes was allotted a shack at Arambol beach on Aug 14, which he subsequently sublet to Lalchand Chauhan, a resident of Himachal Pradesh’s Kullu district. Chauhan’s employees allegedly assaulted Bandekar on Jan 26 because of a dispute over chairs placed on the beach.

The police inspector of the Mandrem police station wrote to the tourism department with a request to cancel the shack licence as the Goa State Shack Policy does not permit beach shacks to be sub-leased to another party.

Naik said that the breach of the policy’s terms permits the department to impose a penalty on shack operators.

“This is a fit case for imposing penalties as laid down in Clause 20 of the Goa State Shack Policy, since it is evident that Manuel Fernandes, shack allottee No. 4 at Arambol beach, sublet the beach shack,” Naik said.

Aside from the penalty of Rs 25 lakh, the tourism department also seized the security deposit paid by Fernandes while applying for the shack licence. Fernandes was given seven days to demolish his shack, but if he fails to do so, govt will raze the structure and recover the cost from him.

“The department remains committed to upholding transparency and strict enforcement of regulations to maintain the integrity of Goa’s tourism sector,” the department said in a statement.