A week after the deadly Birch by Romeo Lane fire claimed 25 lives, it is business as usual for the nightclubs along the coastal belt and the crackdow on a few establishments seems mere symbolic acts. When majority of structur are illegal, a cleanup of the system looks ambitious, if not improbable.
The flames are doused and as the families ofthe 25 who lost their lives at the man-made disaster at Birch by Romeo Lane are yet to come to terms with their loss, it was party time for most tourists along the coastal belt just a week after the tragedy. As one travelled through the coastal villages, struck by the inferno that placed Goa on the map of notoriety, it became evident that ex-cept for Goya Club, the only sound proof establishment sealed by the government af-ter the accident, most in the business of tourism, instead of suffering from shock,
were trying to continue with their nightly routine.
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“The effect on the business is not going to be immediate but there is a defined segment that comes to Goa only for parties and to enjoy the sin city and they will think twice before coming,” stated a senior member of the tourism industry asking for anonymity in fear of reprisal.
“They claim to start demlition of illegal structures and licence inspections but if one looks around, ninety percent of hotels and establishments linked to tourism are illegal. If they are hon-st, there is little going to be left. The industry is paying the price of corruption,” he added. The fire at Birch Romeo Lane, apart from the pain it has left the families of the deceased, has opened a can of worms that was being hidden by officials.
Karen, the owner of a boutique hotel stated,” The Department of Tourism does not have a clue of how to promote Goa. There is a 30 percent drop in occupancy since the start of the season mainly due to bad infrastructure, the elections announced in the month of December, the Indi go fiasco and now the name Goa has earned for itself after the fire.” The roads in Arpora, Anjuna and Baga wore the usual weekend colours with hundreds of vehicles filling most parking slots right past midnight with no parties at regular all night places being cancelled due to the inferno.
With night life along the coast not affected after the fire, Ernest Dias, CEO of Travel Corpo-ration of India (TCI) /SITA thinks that despite the Russian charter Anex shifting operations to Vietnam this year, it was the Indigo finsco that hit their Foreign Individual Tourist (FIT) market most.
“The repercussions of the fire may be felt later. It is too early to state but we are starting charter business with our old Russian operator Pegas from December 30 and I hope that will make up for the shortfall,” added Dias.
As the sun set along the coast, life awoke with roads getting busier as the night grew older right from Anjuna to Baga. By 10 pm, high-end outside State vehicles could be seen dominating the roads in search of clubs that played music all through the night.
At 11 pm, a vehicle pulled up at Bobby’s junction in Anjuna and from the windows a mellow feminine voice inquired, “Is this the right way to Dynamo?” One of the many places in Vagator that plays loud music all night.
The Department of Tourism is dependent on ideas from outsiders to promote our place and what has happened is the consequence of that,” said local businessman Bryan who witnessed no change in his room occupancy due to the tragedy. The lights, sound and action through the weekend left many locals seeing through the hollowness of the government in trying to pro-mote the industry by allowing the money of out-siders to dictate terms.
“It is not just the Department of Tourism but the Department of Environment and TCP that has a hand in all the illegalities going along our belt. Hills have been allowed to be cut, fields have been allowed to be converted and salt pans made to disappear. Romeo Lane is just one of the many more and believe me, once the noise subsidies, the government will be back to business,” said Ana Fernandes who has been fighting against all illegalities in her village.
Villagers from Anjuna and Vagator believe they lost their home stay business after Sunburn was allowed into the village. “Once they came in, all the foreigners left for Gokarna and some started discovering South Goa Club goers do not use our accommodation. We are left with no ор tion but to let out our rooms to staff working for these clubs,” lamented a villager on condition of anonymity. Meanwhile the Mapusa Court on Saturday extended the police custody of the four managers of the Birch by Romeo Lane night club, Arpora, by five days for the purpose of continued investigation.
The four accused Rajiv Modak (49), chief gen-eral manager and Priyanshu Thakur (32), gate manager, both natives of New Delhi Rajveer Singhania (32), bar manager and Vivek Singh (27), general manager, both from Uttar Pradesh were earlier remanded in six days police custody. They were arrested on December 7 after a fire
broke out in the night club in which 25 persons were killed. The Anjuna Police have registered the case un-der Sections 105, 125, 125(a), 125(b) and 287 read with 3(5) of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023. Anjuna PI Suraj H Gawas is conducting further investigations.
Meanwhile, the Anjuna police on Saturday recorded the statements of five panchayat members of Arpora-Nagoa Village Panchayat as part of the ongoing investigation. Deputy Sarpanch Sushma Nagvekar, Vinanti Morajkar and ward member Steffi Fernandes were among the panchas whose statements were recorded by the police.
The Arpora-Nagoa Village Panchayat compris-es seven members. Arpora-Nagoa Sarpanch Roshan Redkar and the then panchayat secretary Raghuvir Bagkar. now placed under suspension, have filed antic-ipatory bail applications before the Additional Sessions Court at Mapusa. On December 11, the Court granted interim relief to them from arrest and has now directed the Anjuna Police to file their say on Tuesday, December 16. On Friday, the police sought additional time to file a detailed reply.
