Casinos re-open as fishermen disperse after lathicharge
Byline: Karan Sehgal
Casinos in River Mandovi re-opened around 80 pm on May 12 after they had to remain shut on the previous day due to fishermen’s protests.
Shrinivas Nayak, director of Pride Group of Casinos and Hotels, confirmed that they have re-opened the operations of their casinos.
Earlier in the evening of May 12, the police had to resort to lathi-charge to disperse protesting fishermen. The protests which had erupted on May 11 were happening right outside the receptions of casinos, where they sell tickets.
As a result, the access to casinos was blocked on May 11. Casinos were fearing that they might have to remain shut for the second consecutive day. Fortunately, for them, that didn’t happen as the police cleared off the protest.
Nayak said, “We are sympathetic to the cause of the protesting fishermen. But, their sudden protest has badly affected our business”
Nayak continued, “The protesting fishermen had forcefully taken our feeder boats. They had also forcefully occupied our reception area. As a result, we just couldn’t do our business and had to remain shut on May 11th.”
Nayak also informed that guests who had entered the casinos on the evening of May 10 were not allowed to come out on the morning of the following day by the protesting fishermen. This is not only bad for the image of Goa as a tourist destination, but it even costed Pride Group of Casinos and Hotels dearly as they had to compensate all the guests who missed their flights.
Nayak added, “We are paying Rs 8 lakh license fees per day to the state government for both Casino Pride 1 and Casino Pride 2, put together. For both these casinos, our running expenses are Rs 15 lakh a day.”
