Planning to extend lifeguards' duty hours till 8:30pm: Goa

The Goa government is planning to extend the working hours of lifeguards till 8:30pm in the wake of a rise in drowning incidents along the state's beaches, Tourism Minister Manohar Ajgaonkar said today.

Lifeguards currently patrol the state's beaches between 8am to 7pm every day.

In a written reply tabled in the state Legislative Assembly today, the minister said that incidents of drowning had risen from 23 in 2016 to 26 in 2017 and the figure had already touched 22 for the current year.

He said that several of these incidents had happened after sunset.

The issue was raised by Congress MLA Nilkant Halarnkar.

"It has been proposed that working hours of the lifeguarding services on the beaches be extended till 8:30 pm," he said.

He informed the House that the state government had constituted a committee to examine drowning incidents along the beaches as well as issues like vendors operating illegally on beaches and consumption of liquor there.

"The committee has directed us to erect signboards with instructions at specific locations prohibiting swimming and venturing into unmanned water bodies in the state," he said.

He said that the state government was also examining if the services of the Beach Security Police can be extended beyond midnight till the early hours of the morning.