CALANGUTE: Two alleged dance bars at Khobrawaddo, on Baga road, were sealed by the Calangute Village Panchayat late Monday night for allegedly carrying out their businesses illegally.
“We have sealed two so-called nightclubs in Khobrawaddo. All these things (dance bars) are happening in Calangute and it’s a big problem for us. That’s why we all came for an inspection and sealed the premises. We don’t want this nonsense here. We don’t want these kinds of businesses to flourish again,” Sarpanch Joseph Sequeira said.
The action came hours after panchayat members met Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Monday to urged him to clampdown on the various illegal activities going on in the tourism hub following a number of incidents involving tourists and locals being assaulted by touts, with a son of a panchayat member being allegedly assaulted last weekend.
One of the places sealed, ‘Devil’s Club’, was in the news six months ago when locals had gathered there on May 19, demanding that it be shut down. The manager had then claimed that the premises were purportedly owned by a kin of a former minister.
Locals said such incidents, wherein tourists are lured to the nightspot and beaten up and looted, have been going on for years.
“Tourists are lured here by pimps and touts who promise them women. The tourists are then taken inside and looted of their money and beaten up if they resist. There will be a few girls inside. Tourists will be charged Rs 1,000 to touch their hands and then told that they have to pay Rs 10,000 for other features. If they don’t cough up the money, they get beaten up, their phones and gold ornaments snatched,” a local said.
Panchayat members went around inspecting various venues on Monday night starting at 9.30 pm and said they have identified 10 places which will be sealed. Besides the ‘dance bars’, a few open-air venues playing music after 10 pm and ‘discos’ operating without licences were also identified and will face action, panchayat members said.
Sequeira also urged Calangute locals to help stop illegal activities.
“I want to appeal to people that in case they’ve given any places on rent for these things, they should take back the place and start a good business,” the Sarpanch requested.
