CALANGUTE: Eleven alleged dance bars were sealed late Thursday night in Calangute, on the orders of the Bombay High Court at Goa, after they were found to be operating without ‘consent to operate’ from the Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB).
The petitioners in the public interest litigation (PIL), Calangute residents, Sudesh Mayekar and Kundan Kerkar who have been vocal about the illegal dance bars, expressed happiness over the action. The petition had been filed after various attempts by the Calangute panchayat to close failed, despite gram sabha resolutions and protests by locals.
Following protests by locals who have been claiming that the panchayat has been giving licences to the dance bars, which are bringing disrepute to Calangute, the village panchayat had issued demolition notices to eight alleged dance bars on July 27, giving them 15 days’ notice. Sarpanch Joseph Sequeira had stated, “Some months ago we had inspected some places and started the process to shut them down. We had identified 16 places out of which we have now issued the final notices to eight of them for demolition of the structures.”
After following due process, panchayat members said the demolition of the illegal constructions in these eight dance bars were scheduled to be carried out on October 23, but were halted after the owners of the premises obtained stay orders against the demolition from the director of panchayats.
Following this, the two residents, Mayekar and Kerkar, approached the High Court listing various irregularities in the establishments. The 11 dance bars were sealed on Thursday night for operating without the consent to operate from the State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB). The GSPCB action came after directions from the HC.
However, Mayekar said the sealing of dance bars for not having consent to operate is only part of the HC order. “We have also asked the HC that those establishments without occupancy certificate (OC) should be closed permanently and till the matter is decided they should be told to stop all commercial activities,” he said.
Besides being allegedly involved in illegal activities including prostitution, the dance bars have also been in the news for extortion and assaulting tourists. In the most recent incident, Yogendra Behera, 23, a native of Kendrapara, Odisha, working in one of the clubs, was arrested for allegedly extorting Rs 16,000 from a tourist by threatening to beat him up.
