Tradition & trade at the altar of uncertainty in Margao

MARGAO: This story has to begin with  this story told to us by Hansel Vaz, who’s a second generation owner of the famous Vaz Enterprises in Margao that will be affected by this ban.

“See Goa, unlike other states, has a different social fabric. In Goa people buy their booze from wine shops and take it home to drink unlike in Maharashtra and other states where they buy nips and pints and drink in their cars and fling them on the road and also result in drunken driving. Also people in Goa especially Margao will visit the age-old bars and taverns and have a quick drink at the end of their work and these bars existed pre-India times and the owners completely depended on them for their livelihood,” explains Vaz.

Vaz and few others explain to us that a new highway construction is going on by re-aligning the highway bypass through Nuvem, Khareband, interiors of Benaulim which exits towards Navelim to proceed towards Canacona, and since there is no development as such onto the new bypass and the highway work is its last stages of construction, the government can easily de-notify the highway that cuts through the city and save the liquor and wine shops across Margao.

Similarly, restaurant and wine shop owners in Margao feel that the AG’s statements that restaurants will be permitted to serve alcohol and the ban and closure applies only on wine shops, is affecting their unity. They also do not agree with the AG’s observations.

Cassy Martins, another licence holder from the Excise Department, whose business will be adversely affected post March 31, explains that the Excise Department has deliberately held back serving them with notices so they wouldn't have to deal with its subsequent wave of inquiries. Martins says that paucity of time will not allow licence holders to respond to those who get notices as by that time the licences would have expired and they will get no opportunity to move court. 

Can Clube Harmonia serve alcohol during its weddings? We don’t know.

Meanwhile the famous Clube Harmonia of Margao which is in its Centenary year celebrations is also confused if the ban of serving liquor along the highway will affect its age-old tradition of hosting weddings which involve serving alcohol for which mostly couples take necessary permissions to fulfil permissions for Sound by the Collector’s office.

Madgavkars go to taverns to socialise, what happens to tradition?

Santana Jose Pereira from Donvodem asserted that he often goes to the age-old taverns at Old Market near Holy Spirit Church to meet his clients to receive payments for the small construction contracts that he takes. He says, “The entire tradition of Madgavkars to socialise at a tavern will change and sadly the taverns, which are most often run by old women, will be out of business and create a major hole in the pocket of many families of senior citizens.”

Indirectly, the business of the traditional cashew feni distillers and many allied services association with the gaddis or taverns in Margao will be hit badly.

Sadly on the other hand restaurateurs, wine shop owners have been going pillar to post to many other Xaxti politicians who have been making blind promises of resolving the issue once they come to power, post March 11 results, which keeps the affected in limbo till then.