Casinos in Goa are considered to be a milking cow for the Goa government post closure of mining business in Goa, but somehow it has always been a issue of controversy for the ruling government who is been playing the blame game with the opposition parties maintaining the status quo while putting the blame entirely on the previous government. There are incidences when existing BJP government had promised the people of Goa that they are going to remove the casinos from Mandovi River and they will also not issue any further Casino licenses in Goa.
Perhaps to uphold the promises of BJP government in Goa finally Mr. Parulekar, the tourism minister of Goa, who also handles the additional portfolio of minister of captains of ports, has taken a step to remove the casinos from Mandovi finally. “The government is considering relocating all four offshore casino vessels to Aguada Bay”. Said the minister Dilip Parulekar on Friday mentioning that, casino operators would be asked to relocate their vessels at the time of renewal of their licenses.
Mr. Parulekar has ruled out the possibility of shifting the vessels in river Sal, in south Goa. “Government is seriously considering relocating all the four offshore casinos to Aguada Bay. It is the safest location for these vessels,” the minister said. As per the government decision all the casinos needs to be shifted out of the river Mandovi by or before December 2015 and the captain of ports has already identified the new locations for the relocation of the casinos which includes Aguada Bay, River Sal, Chapora River and Zuari River. The minister is not in favour of relocating the casinos in river Sal as that river is not feasible for the relocation according of casinos to him “I inspected the river. Nearly 15 kms stretch was inspected. I observed that the river is not feasible for relocation of casinos,” he said.
Parulekar narrated that the licenses of all the casinos expires between August and December 2015 and they will be applying for the renewal “At the time of renewal, we will ask them to relocate their vessels pending which no renewals will be done. I am confident that casino operators would be ready to shift at Aguada bay,” he said. As per available information, the license of the casino Deltiin Jaqk expires on August 29, 2015 followed by Casino M V Pride of Goa on September 12, 2015, Deltiin Royale in October and Casino Pride II on December 3, 2015. As per the previous contract the casinos were granted the licenses for 5 years with an undertaking to shift the same out of Mandovi river within the period of 2 years signing and in case government do not manage to arrange the alternative land for the casinos before September, the vessels would be allowed to anchored in the Mandovi but no operation would be allowed.
As of now it seems like the needful will be done by the government to cool down the agitation against the casinos by shifting them out of the Mandovi River but only time will tell what really happens in the future as casinos are not very comfortable going out of the Mandovi as it may result into losing lots of walk in business. Also they prefer to be close to the capital city due to lots of visibility. Please do leave your valuable comments and feedback on this issue if you feel it’s worth doing.
Source: Heraldo
