A year ago, Parrikar made a statement in the State Legislative assembly that all the offshore casinos will be shifted out of Mandovi by December 2015, and the operators had given an undertakings in this regard to the Government during renewal of their licenses. He further added that, it is not the concern of the State government where the offshore casinos would be shifted away.
But, Parsekar’s U turn on this issue has created trouble in waiting for these offshore casinos. Instead of casinos taking the State Government to court, it will now be the people of Goa who will take both the Government and the casinos to court.
According to Parsekar removing casinos from Mandovi is not a suitable step as the casinos are legal, and removing them from Mandovi would send wrong signals to the investors. He further adds that investors need to have faith in the government and, they (casinos) are catering to some of our boys and girls. Fair enough, casino business in Goa is legal but, anchoring casinos permanently in Mandovi river against legislated navigational rules enforced by Government of India, is illegal.
The Captain of Ports is duty bound to remove the obstruction created in this busy navigational channel by the casinos says the navigational law. The navigational rules further states that the any special rules made by the state government shall conform as closely as possible to the rules legislated in the navigational acts.
Therefore Parsekar’s special rule or concession to keep the casinos in Mandovi and obstruct the navigational traffic is illegal and is a gross violation of the navigational” safety norms. There is sufficient evidence in these acts to prove illegal occupation of casinos in Mandovi river to file a public interest litigation in the court to close the casinos down once for all.
Therefore Parsekar should shift the casinos from Mandovi, and send clear signals to the investors to showcase Goa`s zero tolerance to illegal and corrupt practices instead of fooling the public and investors with wrong ideas. Who will have faith in a Government who does hanky-panky. Gamblers, boys and girls who are being catered to by the offshore casinos will naturally follow casinos whenever they go away from Mandovi river to continue business elsewhere, and the government cannot incur any revenue or unemployment loss which is wrongly portrayed.
