Panaji : The BJP-led government’s plans to allow five more casinos in Goa has found opposition from one of its own legislators.
Calangute legislator and the BJP’s North Goa district president Michael Lobo on Thursday told a media conference that he would oppose his government’s decision to grant licenses to more casinos.
Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar had on Wednesday said more casinos could soon dot Goa’s landscape.
“Increasing the number of casinos is just not right. I am going to oppose the move,” Lobo told reporters in Panaji.
The coalition government’s decision to permit a club as part of the global Playboy franchise had been publicly opposed by Lobo in the past, which, combined with popular outrage, had forced the embarrassed state government to deny permission to the club.
After dodging questions from the media about his government’s plans to allow setting up of five more casinos — one offshore and four onshore casinos — Parsekar on Wednesday had conceded that more casinos were on the anvil.
Goa already has five offshore casinos and a dozen-odd onshore casinos, which cumulatively attract several thousand tourists annually and contributes about Rs.125 crore to the state government’s kitty.
“Goa cannot have more casinos. It is already having a bad effect on the locals. I know so many instances when young boys spend their days earnings on casino games. This proliferation must stop somewhere,” Lobo said.
Ahead of the 2012 state assembly polls, the BJP, which had led a sustained campaign against the casino industry for several years, had promised, that if voted to power, its government would rid the Mandovi river (one of the state’s biggest rivers which flanks the capital) of the casinos.
Ironically, after coming to power, the BJP-led coalition is now being accused by the opposition, civil society groups as well as a section of its cadre of being close to the casino industry.