Panaji, January 31: 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. Goa Drinking Ban: ‘7-Day Jail Without Bail’ to Curb Drunken Driving Likely to Be Imposed in India’s Favorite Beach Destination.

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.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 31, 2019 07:07 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).