VASCO: Vasco residents as well as political leaders have demanded stringent action by the police to curb the gambling menace in the port town. The reaction came following Herald’s report on gambling taking place in the open beside the chicken market in Vasco.
On Sunday, Herald had exposed how gamblers from Vasco were playing Andar-Bahar (poker game) in a small passage between the stalls near the chicken market. Herald had caught them red-handed.
“It is serious if such activities are going on blatantly. This should be stopped immediately and police should take steps to ensure that such things do not start again. It is for the police to stop such illegal activities. As a minister, I will speak to the Vasco DySP and ask him to give priority to stopping such activities,” said Power Minister Milind Naik.
Even the Councillor of Vasco, Krishna Salkar, raised serious concerns and demanded that such activities be stopped.
He said, “If such activities are going on near the market, then youth probably get induced towards those activities. I am surprised that the police failed to take action against the same. I feel that we have very good and efficient police inspector at the Vasco police station.
He should take steps to ensure that such illegalities are not only stopped, but not allowed to start anywhere else before more and more local youth gets addicted to gambling.”
Meanwhile, Chairman of Goa Pradesh Congress Committee Minority Department and MMC Councillor Saifullah Khan claimed that open gambling in Vasco has increased extensively during the BJP rule in Goa. He said that it is due to the failure of the local police that such illegalities are on the rise, leaving more and more people, especially the poor, to get addicted to gambling.
