In Goa extensions are not only given to senior government servants but also off-shore casinos. On Monday, the government decided to extend the stay of off-shore casinos in the Mandovi river by three months. Why three months? It’s anybody’s guess. But the short duration points to the Goa Forward Party which had vowed to pack the off-shore casinos to the deep sea where they would be invisible to the citizens of Goa, many of whom feel that the further away they are from the coast the better it will be for the State.
The government has, so far, given off-shore casinos four extensions and the grounds for each extension is that they generate revenue for the State and since over 5,000 people are employed directly and indirectly in off-shore casinos any move to jeopardise the industry would hurt everyone, especially the economy of Panaji which is highly dependent on the gambling boats.
One can argue that casinos are not part of Goemkarponn, but to bring up the case 25 years after the first off-shore casino was established seems convenient for those opposed to them. The government has a stronger case when it says that disrupting the industry at this stage would jeopardise jobs, investment and revenue. Goa aspires to be a welfare state but for that to happen it needs to earn sufficient revenue to off-set welfare payments. There was a time when this burden was placed on the back of the mining industry, but with international iron-ore prices hitting rock bottom, casinos have been forced to carry the welfare cross.
The trump card that off-shore casino owners hold in their hand is that no coastal village in the State is willing to play host to them. It might be recalled that the Parsekar government had made a feeble attempt to shift the boats to locations off Chicalim in the Zuari river and the Chapora river where the former Siolim MLA was building a mini-port without obtaining the necessary permissions. Strong opposition from locals made the government stop in its tracks and it was the casino owners who had the last laugh. Casino owners have taken a convenient stand. They are willing to move to any location provided the government constructs berthing facilities. Since no panchayat is willing to give permission to create such facilities the casinos are stuck in the Mandovi. To make matters worse the previous government increased the number of off-shore casinos to six.
Even Vijai Sardessai would have found it next to impossible to move these casinos out of the Mandovi. On Monday he got a lesson in realpolitik. There is a huge difference between election rhetoric and reality of governance. Being a junior partner in a coalition government he has to hammer out a common minimum programme along with the BJP and MGP and this would mean making a few compromises, starting with off-shore casinos.
