PANJIM: The Aam Admi Party (AAP) has once again attacked the government and the Opposition over the existence of casinos in the State, this time by alleging that Nepal-natives were largely recruited for jobs. The party alleged the government was facilitating the recruitment.
“Recruitment of staff for Casino operations in Goa is going on in Nepal with the blessings of the government as well as the opposition. We have social media advertisements to show Nepali youth from a place in Dhangadi are being invited for various positions in casinos. The government too is working only for the casinos and now it has gone a step further in ensuring that they have manpower from abroad who could then be registered as voters like it has been done in case of North Eastern Casino employees,” AAP’s General Secretary Pradeep Padgaonkar said in a joint press conference with its leader Valmiki Naik on Sunday.
The party further alleged that the government was building structures to house casino offices and the Opposition is silent on the development. “This shows that all are hand in gloves in this robbery,” Padgaonkar alleged.
He also pointed out to various incidents wherein basic amenities are denied to locals in the interiors but “taking care of the casino lobby.”
“What kind of a government is this that looks after the welfare of Casinos? The casinos were brought in the Mandovi River by the Congress-led government and nursed well by the BJP-led government,” he added.
Revenue Minister Rohan Khaunte had last month lodged a complaint with the Chief Electoral Officer accusing that 820 migrants working in the casinos were listed as voters to the electoral roll for Porvorim constituency and all applications were routed through one IP address. Therefore, several approached the Mapusa electoral office for deletion of their names.
