PONDA: Ponda Excise officials today shut down liquor selling restaurants, shops and whole sellers until further directions from higher officials.
Around 440 bar and restaurant owners and families panicked about future after officials asked them to close their business. The orders were issued orally. Besides, some excise officials also contacted the liquor sellers on their cell phone directing them to close down their shops.
When Contacted Ponda Bar and Restaurant Owners President Peter Fernandes, he said the families dependent on this business are worried about their future and want the government do something for their future.
He said that government inaction has caused today’s “situation of closing down our shops.”
“The Supreme Court passed the order on closure of liquor outlets on December 16, 2016 and since then the Goa Government did nothing to file petition seeking some relief to liquor sellers in Goa which is a traditional business. Since Goa being a small state and tourism dependent, the government should have made effort to exempt Goa from this order,” Fernandes said.
“We hope that the government would come out with a suitable Ordinance,” he said.
“Mizoram, Meghalaya, Maharashtra and Punjab made efforts to convert their highway into district roads, while Goa is left behind doing the same. Goa government should think about what will these bar owners do if their shops are closed and how would their family survive,” he said.
