Goa to develop SOP for tourists soon: CM

Goa will develop its own standard operating procedure (SOP) for tourists soon, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said on Monday.

Interacting with reporters after his video interaction, along with other CMs, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Sawant also said that inter-state movement should be allowed, but in a restricted manner, especially because the neighbouring states of Karnataka and Maharashtra were witnessing increasing cases of Covid-19.

"The state will have to develop an SOP along with the Centre to attract tourists post-COVID. We are ready," he said.

The Goa Tourism Ministry is currently in the process of repackaging the state as a tourism destinaton focussing on qualitative tourism, instead of relying on quantum of tourist footfalls.

Sawant also said, that he had urged the Prime Minister to find ways to restart mining in Goa, which has been non-operational ever since a Supreme Court ban in 2018.

He also said, after Lockdown 3, movement along inter-state routes via bus and train as well as by flights should be allowed, but with restrictions, especially because Goa, a Covid-free green zone, was flanked on both sides by Karnataka and Maharashtra, with a high incidence of cases.

The Chief Minister said that prohibitory orders under Section 144 CrPC would continue to be imposed in Goa post Lockdown 3.

About the Prime Minister's interaction with the Chief Ministers, Sawant said that Modi in his address had said that India, in the post Covid-19 world, needed to examine how economies across the globe had managed to revive themselves after bearing the devastating impacts of World War I and II.

( With inputs from IANS )