Team Herald
PANJIM: The Congress Panjim Block and PCC leaders gheraoed a Captain of Ports official on Wednesday for not taking action against Casino Maharaja that has allegedly illegally occupied the footpath meant for pedestrians.
The CoP official who met the Congress leaders said the area has been given on orders of the High Court of Bombay at Goa and that the barricading has been done for safety of the people as construction work was underway. Congress sought a clarification of the High Court order and whether the court directed them to occupy the foot path. The official said barricading on the roadside was ordered by GSIDC.
The protestors countered asking that if barricading is for people’s safety then why is casino ticketing allowed on the footpath.
Later a delegation comprising spokespersons Sidhanath Buyao, Amarnath Panjikar, Sankalp Amonkar, Mahila Congress Committee President Pratima Coutinho, and North District President Vijay Bhike requested the official to come to the site to see that the entire footpath was being occupied by the casino and one boat operator. It was also seen that a toilet has been constructed and waste is directly let out into River Mandovi.
A ports official said that the department has been fighting tooth and nail to ensure that no additional casino vessels enter River Mandovi, which was placed before the court too. However, none supported the department and certain sections have woken up now.
“For the last one year we have been fighting against the casino entry. No one supported the department. In fact when the matter was in court every time the advocate of the casino owners would insist the High Court judge to put the CoP officials behind bars. But due to High Court direction to allot them jetty space, it was placed before the government for decision. Hence, a place was allotted to them on temporary basis as the whole area will be handed over to GSIDC for the construction of iconic CoP department building. The work will commence shortly maybe within a month or two. Hence, everything will be demolished there,” said the official.
