Team Herald
CALANGUTE: There is no need to introduce a bill for more laws to ban dance bars in the state, according to Calangute MLA Michael Lobo.
Referring to the recent statement by Calangute sarpanch Joseph Sequeira that all MLAs should introduce a bill in the winter assembly session which starts on Monday, Lobo said: “According to me, no legislation is required.”
Following an outcry against dance bars in Calangute last month, Sequeira had said: “The state government should introduce a bill in the Goa Legislative Assembly banning dance bars and pass a law just like the Maharashtra government had done in their state some years ago. This will help in curbing a lot of illegal activities including touting.”
He said the Maharashtra government had claimed that dance bars were a den of crime and banned in their state in 2005.
Lobo said there are enough laws to tackle the illegal so-called dance bars in Calangute. “There are so many illegalities in these places, if acted upon they can be closed,” he said.
“I feel it is not required to bring a bill. I feel he said this because dance bars can mushroom elsewhere also. Today it’s in Calangute; tomorrow it will be in Mapusa; day after in Anjuna, Panjim. Because this should not happen,” he said.
He said it’s also for the owners of the premises who give them on rent to do their bit to stop the rackets. “Recently one of the owners of a place operating as a dance bar came to me and said he’s terminating the lease agreement he had made for giving his premises for a restaurant and bar as they have deviated from the business. If all the owners do this, then 80% of these places will close,” he said.
He also claimed that following a meeting he and Sequeira had with DGP Jaspal Singh recently, the police have come down on the touts operating in Calangute and the menace has reduced considerably.
