PANJIM: The Laxmikant Parsekar-led coalition government has bypassed senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and former Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar’s contentions on casinos and granted ‘in principle’ approval to M V Royale Floatel cum casino. Parrikar had not only described the move to move the casinos out of Panjim by the then Congress government as an ‘eyewash’, he had also targeted the Digambar Kamat government for illegally issuing casino licenses singling out Casino Royale, owned by High Street Entertainment Pvt Ltd for illegal operations’, in a press conference held on February 25, 2009.
He had even threatened to file a criminal complaint against the government and the casino owner for the illegalities and corruption in allotting licenses to casinos.
“BJP will not take all this lying down and file criminal complaints against the illegalities and corruption in allotting licenses to the casinos,” Parrikar had said at a press conference, where he had also said that the cabinet decision to move the casino vessels one nautical mile away from Panjim was “an eyewash”.
The in-principle approval of the transfer of license of Deltin M V Caravela to Deltin M V Royal Floatel with the condition that the vessel cannot be plied in the river Mandovi has been given. But it was Mr Parrikar, then opposition leader and then chief minister who had mocked at the seriousness of the Congress government when it had taken the decision to move casinos beyond Panjim’s city limits.
Parrikar had said “Panjim does not end at Kala Academy and is further up till Miramar beach. The government is now trying to move it towards Verem bay and say it is one nautical mile from the city.”
Sensing the soft peddling on the issue of moving the casinos out of the Mandovi waters, something that none of the casinos are willing to do, Deltin Pleasure Cruise Company Private Limited, which belongs to Delta Corporation Ltd, has asked the state government to identify the location where they can ply the M V Royal Floatel and start operations or else allow them to operate in river Mandovi till the government relocation policy is finalized.
It is also significant to note that Parsekar had said earlier, “MV Floatel, is not a casino but only moors with the permission of the captain of ports.” There is no official confirmation of this though industry sources state that there will be a casino – albeit a small one – on board.
Even Parrikar , when he subsequently became chief minister sang a less belligerent tune and in spite of a cabinet decision to shift the casinos out of the Mandovi in 2012-13, the government didn’t come up with a relocation plan. The new chief minister Parsekar completed the U turn dramatically, by sympathizing with casino owners. He said shortly after becoming CM, “These casinos were not given (license) during the tenure of the BJP government tenure. But we can’t ditch those who have invested. We are considering them sympathetically. I don’t even know who all own the casinos,” Parsekar said.
The cabinet decision to shift the offshore casino vessels out of river Mandovi was taken by Parrikar’s government in 2012-13. The government had initially proposed to provide a site at Aguada to these vessels, but the proposal did not move forward.
Parrikar, when in opposition, was of the firm view that the offshore casino vessels be out of river Mandovi and not just few nautical miles from Panjim.
As they say, time and tide wait for no one. And Parsekar certainly hasn’t waited long in giving a comfortable breathing time to MV Floatel and others to be honourable guests on our Mandovi waters.
