MAPUSA: To apply for, or renew a liquor license in the tourist hub of Bardez, one does not only need proper documentation but good fitness levels and endurance training is a prerequisite. A visit to the Mapusa Excise Department would require you to scale over 100 steps, multiple times, as the elevator of the private building that houses the government office has not been working for the past two months.
What’s worse is that bar owners often have to make the climb to the fifth-floor office in Mapusa’s Cosmos Building several times to get their paperwork in order, as even getting a photocopy requires them to trudge back to the ground floor each time.
If you enjoyed reading this article, you can help support our journalism by adding OHeraldo as a preferred source.
Sweaty and visibly exhausted, Anjuna-based restaurant owner Balbhim Malwankar said, “For the last two months, I have been visiting this office to get my license up to date. With the elevator not working, I’m forced to climb all the way to the fifth floor because we are fined if I do not pay the fees on time.”
“If someone needs a photocopy of any document, they are sent all the way down to a shop nearby, and then trek all the way back upstairs again.
This is ridiculous. The government should either repair the elevator or shift the office to the ground floor if they cannot do that,” said Malwankar.
John Fernandes, a resident of Mapusa, echoed his sentiment and urged the Excise Department to get the elevators fixed or replaced, as it was extremely tiring to climb up 100 steps in the middle of a work day.
In a scathing attack, activist Sanjay Barde pointed out that the Excise Department in Bardez rakes in the highest revenue from the tourism industry, but was still operating from a poorly-maintained private building. “It’s shameful that the Goa government could blow Rs 5.5 crore on a swearing-in ceremony but does not have Rs 8.5 lakh to pay rent. The state is wasting tax- payers’ money by operating public offices in private buildings. The elevator here has not been working for over two months, and people are being inconvenienced. The government is celebrating 75 years of independence but does not have its own buildings to operate offices,” said Barde.
