Indian state considering land-based
Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar of the Indian state of Goa used the wrong analogy when he compared the government’s attempt to relocate offshore casino cruises to marrying a pregnant woman and raising another person’s children.
According to CalvinAyre.com, Parsekar said the casino cruise “mess” is the sole responsibility of congress. Prodded for more explanation, he told CNBC’s Money Control, “Someone had said I was compelled to marry a pregnant woman. What to do? So naturally, I am forced to take care of her children.”
In March, Parsekar said operators of the state’s four offshore casinos had until the end of the month to relocate. But the government intervened and gave the vessels until 2017 to move on. “We are trying our level best to shift the casino vessels out of Mandovi … We have said one year or till we find alternate place,” the chief minister said.
But the Goa Pradesh Mahila Congress, offended by the references to women and children, is demanding that Parsekar apologize and resign. “Didn’t the CM get any other example?” GPMC spokesperson Pratima Coutinho asked the Indian Express. “How can gambling businesses like casinos be compared to being a mother? The statement is humiliating and not fit from a person holding a coveted post.”
The state had identified four potential locations for the casinos: the River Chapora, Aguada Bay, and two sections in the River Zuari. But those areas were “either not feasible for the casino operators or there was opposition from the locals,” said the chief minister.
At the same time, the state government is considering a land-based industry, saying there is apparently less opposition to casinos on the mainland.
