Goa needs him and that is why the onus is on him, more thanany other Chief Minister to live to the benchmarks he himself had set, especiallyon issues that are emotive like those of the presence of casinos on the Mandoviwaters.
There is credible information from the Chief Minister’sclosest sources that he is actively considering giving a casino license to anoperator, popularly known as “Maharaja Casino”, apparently close to a mediabaron owning multiple television channels across a bandwith of networks. Thislicence, if given, will come of a “vacancy” in the quota of six casinos thatwere given licenses to operate, out of which the lease validity of two and thenthe third have expired. The licence to Maharaja casino is being considered toreplace one of these licences.
What is crucial is that the vessel (different from the casino,since a vessel becomes a casino only after it gets a license) has been bobbingon the Mandovi for close to three years, duly permitted by the captain ofports. So all that Maharaja casino needs to start operations, after presumablygetting a fitness certificate from the captain of ports, and other clearancesfrom the home, excise and the commercial taxes department, is to fit its gamingequipment and let the show begin. This, at a time when the Panjim waterfrontneeds less and not more casinos.
However, in the world of nuances and perceptions, thelegality of such an action is not being questioned. The morality is. If it wasa Churchill Alemao government with ministers who loved to gamble, such anaction would have been talked about but without any element of surprise.Manohar Parrikar, unfortunately, is a victim of his own glorious past. Anopposition leader who waxed eloquent on the damage done by casinos, cannot beseen to be doling out an olive branch to an operator, who even the previousscam tainted Congress government resisted giving a license to.
The Chief Minister has importantly not denied that this is apossibility and he has sought to justify the move on the ground that theoperators had paid or sought to pay an advance of Rs five crores and furnisheda draft to this effect. This surelycan’t reason enough to go ahead with a move that will dent the high standardsof clinically clean stands that he has taken. This is one file that the ChiefMinister shouldn’t clear.
