Activist Sabina Martins who has been fighting against the casinos also took on the government and said, “These (politicians) are all exploiters and so they are giving all benefits to them. Their loyalty is more to these people that are looting the state.”
A year ago, former Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar had stated in the assembly that the offshore casinos anchored in the Mandovi river would be shifted by December 2015, there has been no progress since then.
Despite Parrikar’s statement, the permanency of the casinos in the inland waters was ensured even earlier by the 2012 amendment to the Goa Public Gambling Act, which also made provisions for a Gaming Commission that is yet to be set up. In the past 16 months, four casino vessels anchored in the Mandovi have been registered under the Inland Vessels Act making their relocation away from the waters of Goa a more complicated exercise.
Activist Anand Madgavkar had said, “The Inland Vessels Act is only for vessels within the rivers. They can’t go past the Mandovi bridge. So they are all parked over here. And now if they are registered under the Inland Vessels Act, they can’t even go to sea. So has he (Manohar Parrikar) made it in such a way that they can’t go out to sea, so that they are parked exactly where they are now?”
While M V Casino Royale, M V Boa Sorte, M V Pride of Goa are registered with the Captain of Ports, Goa, M V Horseshoe Casino is registered with the Director of Ports & Inland Waters Transport at Karwar.
All registrations under the Inland Vessels Act have been made after the 2012 amendment to the Goa Public Gambling Act 1976 bringing casino vessels under the purview of the Captain of Ports.
Casino Royale was the first to register under this act on September 19, 2013, followed by Boa Sorte on December 13, 2013. Pride of Goa, was registered under the Inland Vessels Act on December 18, 2014. Horseshoe casino was registered at Karwar on July 27, 2013.
The amendment in 2012 (bill 21 of 2012) inserted Section 2(9) in The Goa Public Gambling Act and defined a vessel to mean and “include any ship, boat, duly registered with the Captain of Ports, Goa, under the Inland Vessel Act, 1917 (Act 1 of 1917), or registered with the Director General of Shipping.”
The earlier definition of vessel meant and included “any ship, boat, etc used in navigation and licensed by the Director General of Shipping, Ministry of Surface Transport, Government of India.”
What this effectively means is that a vessel that is registered with the Captain of Ports, Goa, under the Inland Vessel Act cannot move out of the inland waters, unless expressly permitted to do so. It is only vessels that are registered with the DGS that can sail on the high seas.
Sources said that since the vessels are now registered under the Inland Vessels Act they can at best be shifted to other rivers in Goa, with the Zuari river, given its width, as the only viable alternative. Relocating them to the high seas would require permissions from the director general shipping.
“Basically casinos have taken more from the local people than they have given. People have sold properties, they are in debt, taken loans, sold gold. All this has gone into the casinos. And what the casinos give – a few rupees. The harm that they have done is enormous,” said Martins.
Referring to the cabinet decision of the government, Panjim’s new MLA Siddharth Kuncalienkar said, “I will stand by the cabinet decision. I am the legislator of the government and the people of Panjim have voted for me despite this issue being brought up during the by-election. According to me this (casino) is a non-issue.”
The cabinet had decided that licences of offshore casinos expiring on or before March 31, 2014 may be considered for extension for a period not exceeding two years to enable them to make alternative arrangements to move out of the Mandovi. Licences of offshore casinos expiring after March 31, 2014 will not be renewed for operations in the Mandovi.
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