Following the recent controversy over a video of a topless woman driving on the ‘Maddani’ coconut trees road in Parra road, the Parra panchayat sarpanch has said the police need to step in to manage the situation with the number of tourists rising and accidents and other incidents taking place.
The panchayat has been trying with its manpower to manage the large number of tourists coming to the road to click selfies, photos and videos, Parra sarpanch Chandanand Harmalkar said while talking to media recently. “We feel the police or traffic cell should take responsibility for the smooth flow of traffic and unwanted incidents should not happen. We’ve been doing our bit, but there have been accidents; there has been the video incident. But nobody is taking any action. Everyday our residents come and complain about tourists blocking the road ,” Harmalkar said.
He said the panchayat had tried to manage the tourist crowds. “We have written to the government authorities, but they are saying we should manage at the panchayat level. Even if we put six-seven people here, still tourists don’t listen and behave aggressively and attack them. We’ve told our people not to do anything to the tourists and to manage in the best way possible. When they’re not there, then all these incidents happen,” the sarpanch said during a drive to plant coconut saplings alongside the road.
Calangute MLA Michael Lobo was also present. “Maddani has become very famous all over the world and Indian and foreign tourists come here to take photos. Some of the trees have become very old and might fall down. It’s our duty to replace them. We had planted some coconut saplings three years ago which are growing because they are being regularly watered during the dry months,” Lobo said.
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