New Years Eve turns chaotic at Baga, Cops heckle media

Corona cases are on the rise, and almost all administrations in the country are insisting that covid protocols be followed. However, if one went to Calangute, you would never imagine that the positivity rate in Goa has been above 5% for the last couple of days. In fact when Goa 365 tried to highlight this, our reporter was threatened by the cops.

This was the scene at New Year’s Eve in Calangute-Baga. Local MLA Michael Lobo, Calangute panchayat and the collectorate has failed to work out proper traffic management plans resulting in chaos near Tito’s lane.

There were stampede like conditions prevailing here and no regard for masks or social distancing. Forget about vehicles, there was no place for people to move. These visuals show that the administration had not anticipated the crowds and Covid SOPs and protocols amid rising cases and Omicron threat went right out of the window. 

Police were monitoring traffic at every junction, but to no avail as there was no proper plan and vehicles were chock-a-block along the entire stretch.

When Goa 365 tried to highlight this, our reporter was surrounded by cops and received threats to shut down his camera. Listen to the conversation between reporter and cops till the video is interrupted as cops try to snatch the reporter’s phone.    

New year Night was all about the colors and excitement but dawn turned ugly. Baga beach was a mess after all the partying. Garbage was strewn all over the sand and some tourists, spiritually high preferred to sleep on the sands. Watch these videos sent by our citizen reporter, Nilesh Goltekar.