By IANS,
Panaji : Citing the need for “economic balance”, industry lobby Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Goa’s corporate sector have advocated recruiting locals over migrant labour in the state.
An exhaustive study titled “Tourism Sector in Goa: Future Growth and Challenges”, commissioned by CII and the Travel and Tourism Association of Goa, says the influx of migrants into the state to take up jobs in the “lower salary range” in the hospitality and construction sectors is not a healthy trend – and that local labour should be given priority.
“Generally, on an economic balance, this is desirable since local labour should have less consequential demands on the infrastructure,” says the study, which has received several inputs from the Goa government.
The study is intended to “initiate a debate on issues related to the tourism sector on areas identified by the tourism industry stakeholders where immediate action is the need of the hour”.
According to it, migration from neighbouring states like Karnataka and “backward” states could hit the Goan economy hard.
“This (migration) could have an adverse impact on the Goan economy in several aspects including scope for employment for locals, interference in the Goan culture, increase in the number of slums and emergence of crime,” claims the study, put together by the premier Goa Institute of Management.
It also says Goa’s industry, as a whole, has failed to pay heed to the state government’s requests to ensure that locals are given 80 percent of the employment pie.
Stating that the state’s iron ore reserves would be depleted over the next two decades, the study recommended immediate action to regulate and and attract investment in the tourism sector, which would then be the only sustainable industry Goa could boast of.