In a humanitarian gesture, the former Chief Minister of Goa, Manohar Parrikar had planned to contribute towards the treatment of patients suffering from Alzheimer’s and other age-old diseases by saying that money received by way of taxes from casinos would be kept in a separate account and used for homes for the aged. This money, according to Mr Parrikar (and as we reported in our edition of May 16), was not needed to buy computers for children and was therefore not needed to meet budgetary expenditure.
Herald has therefore rightly asked (because no one else will because the casino industry feeds many other businesses), where is that account and how has the money been used? Has the government gone back on its word and paid salaries and run the expenditure of the government with casino momey? If yes, then the government must say so and explain why the word of the Chief Minister, no less, has not been honoured. Is it also perhaps possible that Mr Parrikar had all good intentions of keeping casino money in a separate account, but his successor used it to meet the government’s expenses without informing him? If that is so, then the present Chief Minister, Mr Parsekar must explain if he did use the almost Rs 575 crores earned from on shore and off-shore casinos to run the state and pay salaries. If he did not, then he has another round of explaining to do. Where is the casino money? If there is no answer, then people have a right to ask if this money from on-shore and off-shore casinos has been parked in some off-shore account and if this may show up during the next leak of the Panama papers.
The most honest way to get out of this situation is to come clean and say that yes indeed this government is running on casino money, projects are being funded because of this and salaries are being paid off from these taxes or at the very least the interest on loans is squared from revenue received from casinos. Now if this is the scenario, then the current Chief Minister’s reference to ‘unwanted pregnancy’ when describing his problem with shifting casinos, will hit him harder than a baby bump, because if the state government has been merrily feasting off casino revenue, then the baby (whether legit or otherwise) is very much wanted. So who is the Chief Minister fooling?
It’s another matter though that the Defence Minister hopes that his remarks on the impact of casinos and Goan society, made when in opposition in Goa and recorded by local channels would simply vanish. His speech in the Assembly where he referred to social after effects like pregnancy, connected to casino goers, is a major embarrassment to someone who holds such an exalted position.
The BJP must realize that it may not have earmarked funds for the treatment of Alzheimer’s but that doesn’t give it license to display traits of forgetfulness and loss of memory, of promises and assertions it has made, both on the issue of moving casinos out of the Mandovi as well as not using revenue from casinos to run the state. Political Alzheimer’s of this nature may lead to the people of Goa forgetting them in 2017.
