TEAM HERALD
PANJIM: Both the Congress and the BJP supported casinos while in government, but opposed them while in the Opposition, a US diplomatic cable, declassified and made available by Wikileaks, revealing what exactly US diplomats were reporting back home.
“Bharatiya Janata Party’s government decision to permit casinos to operate in Goa when gambling is illegal in all other states in India, has prompted criticism from the Congress Party. The Congress Party was the first to allow gambling in Goa, when in 1992, it amended the Goa Public Gambling Act to allow slot machines in five-star hotels. Later, table games were permitted offshore, during the tenure of Congress chief minister Pratapsing Rane. The BJP opposed these developments at the time. Nevertheless, after coming to power in Goa, BJP chief minister, Manohar Parrikar granted a license for Casino Goa to commence operations,” a section of the cable reads.
The cable also reports how the state government allowed ‘offshore’ casinos thus allowing them to bypass laws that prevent gambling in the country.
SEX TRADE: The US diplomatic cable has revealed Director of Women and Child Development Sanjiv Gadkar had told US consular officials that Goa has a poor track record in (maintaining) shelters for women rescued from the sex trade.
“Gadkar said that most of the women picked up in police raids are repatriated to their hometowns where possible, as Goa has not had great success with shelters for such women. There is little funding for rehabilitation and while the state provides clothing, food and security, the women have no income and often return to sex work,” the cable, quotes Gadkar as having told US consular officials.
The communication also says that Gadkar did not believe that there was violence in the sex trade in Goa. “Gadkar said he did not believe that victims of sexual exploitation were brought to Goa through violent means. He noted that most of the women in the sex trade were forced into the trade by poverty; some, he said, were tricked into leaving their homes by ‘boyfriends’ who then got them involved in prostitution,” the cable reads.
Goa’s ‘successes’ in battling sex trade too were found necessary to mention back home by US consular officials who in their cables have said that “Goa has made concerted efforts to erase its image as a destination for sex trade.”
“In 2005, the Goa police bull-dozed the major red-light district, known as Baina.
Since then, police say there has been a major reduction in sex trafficking in the city, as measured by the number of police raids: according to the police, there were 34 raids in 2005, 10 in 2006, and 9 in the first half of 2008,” the cable sent in 2008 reads adding however: “Nevertheless, the sex industry still exists in Goa, largely catering to locals, Indian domestic tourists and those foreigners determined to seek out the illicit trade.”
