PANJIM: The invisible political hand is seen driving the tourism business in stretches of the North Goa Coastal belt – especially its nightlife.
Right from the time when the former Home Minister Ravi Naik and his son Roy Naik were being accused publicly by Fiona McKeown, the mother of slain teen Scarlet Keeling till the time that a House Committee headed by MLA Francisco Mickky Pacheco was appointed, it has been argued that there is a hidden ‘political hand’ that is blessing the drug trade along the North Goa coastal belt. Naik has had to face a lot of accusations, though he has denied these strongly.
Panch members – both present and past – have been running shacks in the Anjuna – Arambol belt and many of these ‘outlets’ have been under the police scanner – albeit till they have been asked to lay off. Police officials who have shown diligence in cracking down on drugs have been shunted out and some have even been insulted in public by even ministers. The example of Art and Culture Minister Dayanand Mandrekar comes to mind when he publicly tore into a North Goa Superintendent of Police for doing his job. The present BJP minister has been accused of having a ‘hand’ in his area of influence though nothing has ever been proven or even an inquiry initiated.
The police too have been indicted in this nexus, which has been labeled by the media as a police–drug lord–politician nexus.
However, till date there has been no conviction of any major player involved in drug peddling, though it is an admitted fact that drugs are a part of Goa’s tourism and nightlife – and drug money is being used to fund and fuel terrorism, which is a scourge that the country is facing.
