Shack owners await staff return, gear up to reopen in Oct 1st week

Calangute: Seasonal beach shacks in the Calangute-Candolim beach belt, which has more than half of all the shacks in Goa, are likely to start operations from the first week of Oct, weather permitting, according to the Shack Owners Welfare Society (SOWS).
All the eligible shack owners have already renewed their shack licences with the tourism department.This is the first time that the shack licences have been renewed before Sep 1, the official start of the tourist season, SOWS general secretary John Lobo said. “This is unexpected because the tourism department always delays the licences,” he said. However, shack owners won't be able to start their shacks right away, he said.
“When the season was over in May, we did not know that the licences would be renewed early. So the staff were told to come in Oct, with their rail tickets already booked in advance. Without the staff, we cannot run the shacks,” he said.
Most of the staff in these shacks are from north Indian states such as Himachal Pradesh and UP,and they go back to their homes for the summer season in June.