Such ugly incidents of defiling sacred grounds with such public consumption of alcohol near historical monuments at maidans/ parks and gardens, which is presently occurring all over Goa, not only desecrate holy grounds, but also carry a wrong impression on the minds of the tourists at large, that the entire State of Goa is a huge public pub for fun and frolic, where one can drink in public places and create whatsoever public nuisance they desire, at any place at any given time.
Unfortunately in Panaji such incidents of public drinking of alcohol desecrating the National Emblem of India installed at the beautiful Garcia de Horta garden have taken place repeatedly, with the permission of Corporation of the City of Panaji, for commercial gains by some individuals, disguised as event managements, in the month of April and May 2016.
Even though the CCP garden is located next to a school, the excise department has issued liquor licences for sale of liquor inside the garden premises in gross violation of section 90 sub clause (4) (a) of the Goa Excise Duty Act and Rules, 1964, which prohibits sale of liquor within one hundred meters of an educational institution or a place of worship.
Such unlawful and defiling activities of public alcohol sale and consumption at the National monument at the CCP garden in Panaji, continued to be held with due consent of the CCP along with the tiswadi taluka excise officials and the silent approval of higher state authorities, even though complaints have been lodged by patriotic citizens of such desecrations as well as of the gross violations of the said Excise Act, with the Panaji police, Excise Commissioner, North Goa Collector and the Chief Secretary of the State of Goa.
Such public alcohol consumption of alcohol at public parks and gardens in cities and rural Goa, not only send the wrong signals of public alcohol consumption with state support in tourists visiting our state, but also leave wrong imprints in the fragile impressionable minds of children playing at such venues.
Public gardens and parks in the cities are places of recreation along with nature for rest and recuperation from the hustle and bustle of city life for the young and old and thus need to be places of serenity and calm.
As cheaper liquor is available with the wholesalers, and in order to avoid paying various taxes for consuming alcohol at city bars and restaurants, the locals as well as tourists alike choose gardens and parks to consume alcohol late in the evening, inconspicuously in the cities, due to poor lighting at these open air venues..
At times even church open grounds are not spared by the public for consumption of alcohol late evenings.
If one goes around any of the seven gardens in the main garden city of Panaji on any given day, one is sure to come across liquor bottles and cans strewn around these areas causing environmental degradation and causing imminent harm and danger to the pedestrians and as well as animals accessing the periphery /footpaths. One can find plenty of empty liquor bottles and cans thrown around the gardens in the city of Panaji by tourists, since Panaji is a bin free city and has a huge floating population of tourists due to floating casinos. Such persons mostly male local tourists, after being in an inebriated state, cause nuisance to the general public, disturbing the peaceful order which cause tension in the area to our women folk, thus culminating to a law and order situation on a regular basis.
Therefore the bill recently introduced in the ongoing assembly session to demarcate “no alcohol consumption zone” is a welcome step by the State Government and it needs to be urgently passed and immediately implemented without much hesitation.
The State Government has also to ensure strong illumination at these public grounds which will surely prevent these ugly incidents of defiling public maidans and gardens in our serene Goa.
Thus it is high time that the state governments takes cognizance of such anti national and street vandals from consumption of alcohol at such public venues and take necessary measures by barring consumption of alcohol with boards displaying warnings of strict action for any violations, in order to curb such illegal happenings at historical maidans and public parks/gardens. This will necessary culminate into better law and order situation in the State of Goa.
May the true meaning of “Satyameva Jayate” (“Truth alone Triumphs”) which is inscribed in devanagiri script at the base of the National Emblem be carried out and duly established by law enforcing state authorities.
