Tourist drives Toyota Fortuner on Goa beach, let off with Rs. 1500 fine: Netizens angry

Lately, we have been seeing several reports of tourists driving cars and SUVs on the beaches of Goa. Every other day, we come across pictures and videos of such people on the internet. The latest comes from Goa’s Miramar beach where tourists drove and parked their Toyota Fortuner SUV on the beach. The cops actually took action on the car and fined the tourists for driving into a restricted area. A video from Miramar beach has now gone viral on the internet.

Thanking these constables for taking action on these tourist illegally parking their vehicle on the Miramar beach. pic.twitter.com/wnTimBZcDo

— Ivo D. Lobo Gonçalves (@Ivo_Goncalves_) January 2, 2023

The video has been shared by Twitter user Ivo D. Lobo Gonçalves. The user shared the video from the location where the tourists had parked the SUV. The tourists were from Rajasthan and they decided to simply drive and park the SUV on the beach. For those who are unaware, we would like to mention that driving on beaches is strictly illegal in India. The tourists can be seen next to the SUV while the cops ask them about the act. One of them can be seen arguing with the cops as well. The cops issued a challan of Rs 1,500 and let off the tourists. While issuing a challan was a good thing to make them realise their mistake, netizens have interpreted things in a different way.

Also read: Mahindra Thar vs Toyota Fortuner show off-road capabilities

While many of them appreciated the officers who took action against the violators, a section of users had a different opinion. Several new websites featured this story with the video and images. Under one such posts, we came across some interesting comments. One user said, “Honestly if I’m a tourist I’d pay the 1500 and continue driving the entire day seeing as it’s more of an entry to use the beach.” Another user wrote, “1500 is not a fine, it’s a entry ticket/invitation to use the car on the beach.”

These people felt that the action taken against the tourist was not the best and it felt more like a slap on the wrist. Many of them asked to even increase the fine amount. A user said, “A Fortuner car fined rs1500.. that’s peanuts. Government should increase the fine on beach driving to rs 20,000 or cease the vehicle. Driving on beach is become a tourist nuisance. Dirtying leaving garbage & bottles on beaches is a tourist nuisance.”

Goa has a tourist places protection and maintenance act and under this act, the department has prohibited number of activities like cooking of food in open spaces, begging, driving on beach, drinking in public, massages and unauthorized hawkers and so on. Driving on beaches is strictly prohibited in Goa and many other states. But, it looks like people never listen. This is not the first time something like this has been reported from Goa. If you drive a car on loose sand, chances of getting your vehicle stuck are high and you would require help from other vehicles or locals to get it out. If you really want to drive a car on a beach, you can head to Muzhappilangad beach in Kerala’s Kannur district. This is the only place in the country, where you can legally drive a car on beach.

Also read: 10 DC Design cars & how they look in the REAL world: Maruti Swift to Mahindra XUV500