News that the government of Goa is drafting new rules providing for the transfer of licenses among the gaming vessels on the Mandovi River has Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar under fire for appearing to support the Indian state’s casino industry.
The legislature called on Parrikar, who campaigned for office two years ago on a pledge to remove the casinos operating on the Mandovi in and around the capital of Panaji, to stop making “U-turns” and follow through on his campaign promise.
“Mr. Parrikar, as leader of the opposition, had brought women and children to the streets, saying the casinos were corrupting our culture,” recalled Pradesh Congress Committee President John Fernandes.
“No gaming commissioner has been appointed and no mechanism put in place to check illegalities, suggesting that the government is in connivance with casino owners in the illegal transactions,” said Sabina Martins of a grassroots group known as Aam Aurat Aur Aadmi against Gambling.
The chief minister said the Mandovi would be free of casinos before he leaves office, and six months ago, the Cabinet adopted a policy providing that licences expiring before March 31, 2014, could be renewed but with a rider that they would move out of the Mandovi riverfront within two years.
The government also has adopted a rule effective March 1 banning Goans from the casinos.
Responding to his critics, Parrikar said that regulating the industry is a complicated issue that requires study, prompting Satish Sonak of the Goan People’s Forum to describe his actions as a “complete betrayal of the people who believed Mr. Parrikar’s stand against casinos and gambled on him in the previous Assembly elections.”
