The Parsekar government has pulled two rabbits out of its hat, a bit of an old style gambling act, to keep the most cash churning industry in Goa going. It has decided to finally ban Goans from entering casinos, and lo and behold, have a Gaming Commission to regularize the trade, like the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India.
From time to time this BJP government has mentioned these two initiatives, whenever the storm against the ills of the casinos operating on the Mandovi, has arisen. But neither have Goans been banned, nor is there any semblance of regulation of the powerful casino lobby.
So when the government announced that it is finally proceeding with formalizing this and getting it cleared by the law department, two questions arise. a)Why should Goans be banned and b) Will the rationale of the Gaming Commission be fulfilled?
a) If a decision to ban Goans from casinos is taken, then the government must declare why. Is it finally an admission of what, not just anti-casino activists, but countless ordinary men and women have been saying, that casinos have spoilt lives, destroyed families and crippled futures? Is it finally an admission of the fact that for over a decade, the government has allowed this to happen, ignoring strong pleas from womens organizations and families? The government must come clean. We know that banning Goans from casinos will not stand the test of law because every method to identify a Goan, through documents can be challenged. But is the government prepared to beg forgiveness and announce a flat compensation to families whose sole bread winner has been a victim of gambling, pushing the family to poverty? It can’t just turn up after allowing destruction to happen for a decade and say, “We are now banning Goans from entering casinos”. Sorry Sir, this doesn’t work.
b) If the Gaming Commission is a necessity to regulate casinos, then the decision to form it must come with a critical rider that it will look into the manner in which the casino industry was regulated by the existing regulators like the Excise. Commercial Tax and Income Tax departments, thus far. The basic charge that casino operators were not declaring the actual number of footfalls, and never even wanting to find out the source of funds enabling gamblers to spend crores during a twelve hour gambling bout, needs to be addressed.
The past has shown that these attempts are indeed a hogwash. The real reason why this lip service to regularization is being done is to allow the casinos to have an extended run without being threatened of removal from the Mandovi. After all this is election year and we must all understand. A certain Laxmikant Parsekar understands this all too well.
Speaking in the Assembly during the Question Hour, on March 26 2015, Chief Minister Parsekar said “I feel that the government needs to think sympathetically about these offshore casinos since on one side, we are encouraging the investors, while on the other we are asking the people (casino owners) who have invested money to move out”.
It is clear where the Chief Minister’s sympathies lie. The announcements that offshore Casinos will be moved out of the Mandovi, by the end of 2015, were a web of deceit. The Aguada Bay, Zuari & Chapora rivers, chosen as alternate berthing sites, have serious impediments. The Chapora river is ahead in feasibility but will cost Rs 20 crores to remove sand bars. The Aguada bay is exposed to open sea, and in Cortalim (Zuari) fishing boats have to go, if the jetty is made here. And there is no possibility of relocating casino vessels upstream across the Zuari bridge due to vertical clearance of the bridges across the river and at the west of the bridge it is MPT jurisdiction.
A power point presentation was made to the Chief Minister by the Captain of Ports, in June last year on the problems in each of the chosen berthing alternatives. For close to year, there has been no forward movement on this. A year later, there is not a word on moving the casinos out of the Mandovi but an announcement that Goans will not be allowed on them and that a Gaming Commission would be set up.
So what does one infer? Clearly that the plan to move them out of the Mandovi has been shelved, and a new script is being played out to fool gullible Goans that the government is banning locals for their own good.
Governance has reached its nadir and the ruling party, after losing peoples trust is playing games with them. This gamble may not quite work when the 2017 elections take place.
