PANAJI: Goa Pradesh Congress Committee president Shantaram Naik said on Sunday that the State government’s plan to get a casino policy passed in the Legislative Assembly amounts to fooling the people, as a policy is not enforceable as law.
The Goa government will table its casino policy in the ongoing monsoon session of the Assembly on Monday.
Mr. Naik said Goa needs a suitable amendment to Section 13A of the Goa Public Gambling Act, 1976, to clearly define offshore casinos, so that there is no escape route for casino owners, and the government is not in a position to misguide the people. He said it was shocking that the government’s stand submitted in the Bombay High Court at Goa a few days ago indicated that casinos anchored in Mandovi river do not violate the concept of ‘offshore’.
Meanwhile, Aam Aurat Admi Against Gambling (AAAG), an umbrella body of organisations and individuals opposed to gambling and casinos, on Sunday condemned yet another casino, Lucky 7 , on the Mandovi despite protests.
In a press statement, Sabina Martins, convenor of AAAG and women’s collective Bailancho Saad, expressed anguish at the development, as Lucky 7 was stuck last week on a sandbar at Miramar beach, injuring crew members and causing environmental damage.
“The government has once again contributed to the environmental disaster by permitting the entry of the casino in the prohibited period by speaking in favour of the casinos in the High Court … When years back a monstrous vessel River Princess was grounded, crores of public money was spent to remove it. Besides, the vessel had changed tidal waves, eroded the beaches and caused huge environmental damage,” Ms. Martins said.
The anti-casino movement reiterated its demand that no casino should be permitted in the State, and Goa should revert to the original Goa Gambling (Prevention) Act.
Ms. Martins questioned the announcement made by the Chief Minister to relocate casinos from river to land. “The announcement by the present government to bring the casinos still closer by allowing the casinos in inland waters to move to ‘land’ in three years is yet another step to patronise and legislate in favour of the casinos. The last BJP government stated it would oust the casinos from the river in five years, and protect the local residents from the negative fallout of casinos. Till date, they have not removed them, but allowed them to loot people sans a mandatory regulatory authority or rules,” she said.
