the goan I network
MARGAO
Demanding to know whether the Goa government is out to destroy the liquor business as well as the tourism industry in the state, Goa Forward Party Chief Vijai Sardesai on Tuesday said that the hike in the excise proposed in the budget will only give the trade in Delhi a big boost and a death knell for Goa’s bars and restaurants.
While demanding an immediate rollback in the excise hike, Sardesai said domestic tourists from Delhi visiting Goa will be discouraged to come to the state if they find that the rate of liquor in the national capital is on par with that of Goa.
“The government will not only destroy the Goa’s liquor trade presently in the hands of Goans, but will affect tourism in a big way if the excise rates are implemented from April,” he warned.
Demanding to know whether the Goa government is run by the local politicians or from Delhi, he said one of the many incentives for visitors to come to Goa is that liquor available in the state is of the highest quality and cheaper. “But a directionless and rudderless government is hell-bent in destroying the liquor trade as well as tourism just to earn some extra revenue,” he said.
Questioning the logic of taxing, he criticized the new mode of levying tax on restaurants with bigger premises, demanding to know what right the government has to levy such a tax when the bar and restaurant owners have purchased the premises through their sweat and hard work.
“Instead of levying all these taxes, the government should have called the stakeholders for discussions,” he said, while pooh-poohing Chief Minister Pramod Sawant’s claim that he had invited on-line suggestions on the budget proposals.
He recalled that he was instrumental in getting the previous government to save all the bars located on the national highway by giving them the tag of urban outreach areas in the TCP.
“The government should have the will to protect the local businessmen. I do not know whether the BJP government is out to make Goa a veggie state as the excise hike will certainly spell doom for the liquor trade,” he warned.
