Panaji, Jun 25 (PTI) Goa Tourism Minister Rohan Khaunte on Saturday asked the police to "aggressively" curb illegalities in the coastal belt and said such action is necessary to present the coastal state's image as a good tourist destination.

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Khaunte admitted illegalities like prostitution are happening in the coastal belt which needs to be stopped.

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"The state government wants to develop Goa as a good tourist destination. And if we want to do it, the bad things should be tackled. There should be a good image of the state. The state government has already started putting in place several things, but the police department should start getting aggressive on such illegalities and against the people involved," the minister said, adding that he had already taken up the issue with chief minister Pramod Sawant, who holds the Home portfolio.

Khaunte was talking to reporters after attending the AGM of the Goa Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) in Panaji.

He said integrated beach management is one such scheme that will help to check the illegal activities on beaches.

Referring to the opposition to the app-based cab aggregators in Goa, Khaunte said he will try to convince taxi owners to run their services through a dedicated mobile application, which will be run by the Taxi Association.

The tourism industry cannot be allowed to be affected as it is a major source of revenue to the state coffers, he said.

“What happened in Sri Lanks is a lesson for us. Mining is stopped in Goa. This should not happen in the tourism sector,” he added.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)