The daring Morjim matka raid has opened a pandora’s box and once again the dark underbelly of Goa lay exposed, where key players collude to beat the system but yet remain insulated from the fallout.
The Morjim raid assumes significance for more than one reason. Undoubtedly the haul is huge. A staggering Rs 59.34 lakhs, 54 mobiles, keyboards, and a team of 11 people doing business. But more importantly, it has exposed a system which managed to elude the long arm of the law for more than three years. This only goes to show how the entire machinery worked in unison “ from the panchayat members including the sarpanch, the local MLA, the tourism minister of the area and even the local police. Local MLA Dayanand Sopte cannot wriggle out of the situation saying he raised his voice. On the contrary, he must accept the fact that he has failed against this illegality. Without giving any easy excuses, Sopte should stand up and admit his failure.
Are we to believe that the entire system failed to take cognizance of an illegal activity which thrived for three long years? And, are we to believe that this network ran independently without any tacit support from the powers that be?
Superintendent of Police Chandan Chowdhary must be commended for the way she went about planning the entire raid in utmost secrecy, but in a system which is knotted in bureaucratic tangles, will she be allowed to display such unbelievable fortitude and courage further from here.
This secrecy of the raid brings us to another corollary. The SP by not involving even her top officers ensured that nobody was tipped off before the raid. It only confirms the belief that police, including senior officers, are hand-in-glove with the matka network. Let’s not blame the local police alone.
The Morjim raid is only the tip of a bigger gambling network. There are thousands of matka bookies fanned across almost every nook and corner accepting bets all through the day. And it’s an open secret that haftas are paid to keep this trade going. Successive governments have never shown the temerity to crack down on matka, and its machinery has failed miserably in enforcement. A clampdown once in a blue moon cannot cleanse the State of matka, it requires a consistent and sustained effort.
It’s a pity that matka agents and kingpins continue to take a gamble while government is making trite announcements of tweaking laws and tightening the screws on casinos and illegal gambling. The government should stop playing bluff and accept the fact that its own people have their hands muddied in the matka trade. If the government is concerned about casinos corroding locals, then matka is a bigger evil deeply rooted even in remote areas of Goa.
Let’s not bask in the Morjim raid limelight, there’s nothing much to cheer beyond that. Arrests have been made, and the accused have been out on bail the very next day. Goa has a poor conviction rate in matka cases and like the many other cases this too could be no different. Lest we forget, the Babu Kavlekar case which made national headlines in September last has, until now, been a damp squib.
