If you step out of your home in Margao city and its suburbs anytime between 11pm to 4am, the streets are abuzz with people, some working and putting up hoardings, unloading milk cartoons, sorting publications but the city also has a dark side in the after-hours. Groups of men and young boys smoking, doing drugs, some trying stunts with their bikes, racing and that too without silencers, men drinking with loud music blasting from their car woofers and obviously lots of alcohol flowing with empty cans and bottles being left behind on the pavements and along the streets. All this out in the open is interspersed by fights, goondagiri and late-night accidents but the police do not seem to give a damn.
Vincent Vaz, a Modsai resident recently broke his leg in an accident late night while returning from a wedding because of some miscreants playing cards, matka and gambling along the Ravindra Bhavan circle at a unauthorized restaurant run by a former councilor. He has even filed a complaint with the MMC of the restaurant to which he hasn’t received any reply.
Previously when questioned about the illegal Chinese restaurant and its activities or for that matter about a few bars that serve and sell alcohol beyond permissible hours, the Deputy Chairperson Tito Cardozo citing example of the demolition of Rekha bar and Bolshe Restaurant’s illegal encroachment in Borda he stated that the MMC has started acting on all illegally running bars and eateries in Margao and will clamp down on all such activities since there are growing complaints from citizens of anti-socials but nothing has been done till date.
“ We have the local Intelligence Bureau in civil clothes and we also have our police constables who patrol the city in the after-hours and the minute we find anyone doing illegal activities we nab them and put them under preventive custody, also our cops go around the Fatorda and question people who are out at night as to what are their whereabouts, where are they heading, we take their id proofs and compile a database but the city is vast and people are spread-out, we are trying to do our best,” explains Navlesh Dessai, Fatorda Police Station PI.
Navlesh tells us that mobility with vehicles changes a lot nowadays. He explains how people from Colva, come to town for a drink and stay out till late night, similarly people from Curtorim, Cortalim, Loutolim are also in the city in the name of some business and work and stay back at night to hang out with friends, also sometimes domestic tourist who have a late night train at Margao station are in the city illegally drinking in the open, we detain them sometimes but all these elements add to the anti-socials at night and definitely causes fear in the town. Navlesh also admits that his single officer along with a few constables on the night shift were not enough to curb anti-socials.
Explaining the situation, the Maina- Curtorim PI said “ The Naka Bandhi is also ineffective because then people avoid Naka bandhis through interior roads and we are hort staffed to patrol the entire police jurisdiction.” The PI explains to us similarly that Curtorim has a lot of nice evening eateries and bars that serve good food which brings people from various parts of Salcete even from Cuncolim to Curtorim and then these people may stop somewhere on an open ground or hillock for a drink or a beer and hence all this becomes difficult to curb.
Similarly Mahesh Chari who runs a small bar on lease at Agalli explains to us that he actually pulls down his shutter half hour before his 10 pm deadline to avoid local leaders and goons who owe allegiance to politicos who enter his bar beyond 10pm and stay on till even 1am refusing to leave which then makes it look he’s encouraging drinking beyond permissible hours. Mahesh cites incidences where musicians and barmen are often beaten in Salcete because the late night trouble making customer wants some alcohol and fights break out.
But Vibhav Patil, who lives on rent in Gogol feels that the atmosphere in the late hours and the abuse of alcohol, tobacco and drugs is more vitiated from 7pm to 11 pm when cops are just off their evening shifts and the younger generation looks for a quick drink or to abuse drugs after work or play which then increases the tension at night.
