Rs 2,000 fine in Goa for drinking alcohol, cooking in public

The Goa Assembly on Thursday passed amendments to the Goa Tourist Place (Protection and Maintenance) Act, 2001, prohibiting drinking alcohol and cooking in public places including beaches and breaking of glass bottles in public. Individual offenders will from now on be fined Rs 2,000 for the offences, according to the amendment. If the offences are committed by a group, the fine has been hiked to Rs 10,000, the amendment states.

The amendment, tabled by Tourism Minister Manohar Ajgaonkar on Thursday, is aimed to "protect and preserve tourism potential of tourist places in Goa and to keep such places clean and free from nuisance". The Goa Cabinet on January 24 had cleared the amendments, amid demands from travel and tourism industry stakeholders who had blamed the Tourism Ministry for a drop in quantity as well as quality of tourists visiting the state in recent times.