Goa govt mulls providing alternate site to off shore casinos

Panaji, Mar 8: Goa government today clarified that they would not ask off shore casino vessels to move out of river Mandovi till an alternate site is provided to them.

"While on one side we are appealing investors to come to Goa, if we shut down the casinos before giving them an alternate site, it would send a wrong signal," Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar told PTI today.

Goa government had set a deadline of March 31, 2016 for itself to shift the off shore casino vessels from Mandovi River. However, government has not yet finalised the sites for these vessels to anchor.

Parsekar said closing of casinos will also result in unemployment to 2,500 Goans working on these ships besides affecting the revenue of the state.

The Chief Minister said off shore casinos are the gift of the Congress party which was inherited by the BJP. "Government is a continuous process and we can't shirk our responsibility," said Parsekar avoiding to mention which would be next deadline that would be set up to shift the casino vessels.

Various groups have been demanding that casino mounted vessels should be shifted to another location from Mandovi as it is blocking the waterway.

BJP, in its 2012 election manifesto, had promised to shift these casinos from the river which is running parallel to Panaji city.

PTI