Panaji (Goa): It'll take a while before the famous sun-kissed beaches of Goa get a Pamela Anderson like lifeguard prancing on sand. Tourism promoters as well as lifeguard service providers in the Western Indian beach state of Goa are finding it extremely difficult to enroll women lifeguards, ever since the services were privatized four years ago. “We are not getting any women coming forth to become lifeguards. In 2008 we got three applications, but during the swimming trials they could not make it to the qualification mark,” chief executive officer (CEO) of Dristi Beach Management services (DMNS) Commander V K Tanwar told Bikyamasr.com “We are absolutely looking out for women lifeguards. We have even advertised for women who know swimming from the ages of 18 to 30 years, but the response has not been very good,” Tanwar said. Goa was India's first state to privatise lifeguard and beach management service, which is not quite dissimilar, if only not super-glamorous like the iconic ‘Baywatch' television serial on US television, which made the voluptuous Pamela Anderson and the strapping hulk David Hasselhoff household names the world over. Under the present contract the Goa government pays DBMS $ 3.6 million for positing lifeguards along its 105 kms long coastline, which is dotted with popular beaches which see millions of tourists annually. The fee also covers costs for manpower, equipment like jet skis, jeeps, floaters, lifeguard towers, etc. Apart from a sheer lack of interest from the fairer sex towards ‘lifeguarding' as a profession, Tourism director Swapnil Naik said that not enough indigenous Goan lads were coming forward to take up the job of a lifeguard as a vocation. “The number of Goan boys applying for positions has dropped. We would like to have a lifeguard service which has 100 per cent local lads employed,” Naik said. There are presently 523 lifeguards protecting Goa's famous beaches like Calangute, Baga, Arambol, Colva etc. According to Naik the presence of lifeguards on Goa's beaches since 2008 has resulted in a drastic reduction in the number of drowning deaths from one person succumbing to the waves every day to virtually one drowning death every month. “I remember before 2008, it was nearly 100 a year, but now the number has averaged down to 9 to 14 drowning deaths in the last few years. The number of drowning deaths has come down even though the number of tourists visiting Goa have increased annually,” Naik said. Naik said that most beaches in Goa were safe but added that a huge number of footfalls on extremely popular beaches like Baga, Calangute and Colva had resulted in a few drowning deaths there.
