the goan I network
PANAJI/PERNEM
Mandrem MLA Dayanand Sopte on Saturday claimed that gambling activities were thriving in his coastal Mandrem constituency because of tacit support of top ministers in the government who exert pressure on police officers not to act against illegal activities.
Speaking on the sidelines of a Congress event, Sopte said, “Since the last one-and-half years, I have been raising my voice against rampant gambling in Pernem. It was painful to see Pernem police not paying attention to several complaints regarding this social evil.”
“The situation has gone from bad to worse in the past 15 months. Two people from my constituency have been murdered because of the gambling menace,” claimed the Mandrem MLA.
And although he identified the murder victims as Vaingankar and Talaunekar, he declined to name the top ministers backing the illegal activity.
Sopte said whenever he approaches the police with the case of the two murder victims, officers say there is too much pressure from a “powerful minister”.
Sopte said, being in the Opposition, he faced an uphill task whenever he tries to curb the gambling menace.
“In fact, matka, gambling and drugs are the three big issues that need to be dealt with,” he said adding that he has raised these issues in the Assembly several times.
Asked why he wasn’t naming the Minister in question, Sopte only said those talking about Goem, Goenkar and Goemkarponn should put these into practice.
Meanwhile, Sopte said he would move a congratulatory motion to acknowledge the efforts of Superintendent of Police Chandan Chowdhary and the District Investigation Unit (DIU) that busted a massive gambling racket in Morjim.
“I congratulate SP Chowdhary for raiding the gambling den in Morjim, even though the person involved had political patronage,” he stated adding the Pernem police had been ineffective in addressing his concerns on matka gambling.
The MLA said upright police officials like SP Chowdhary and political will was needed to stamp out matka gambling.
“We need police officer of the calibre of SP Chowdhary in order to secure the future of our young generation. To ban gambling in all forms, the government must have the political will and should bring a bill in the ensuing assembly session,” he said.
Besides this, Sopte also spoke of the need to reward performing police officials and punish the erring ones.
Meanwhile, Shiv Sena’s women’s wing chief Shreha Dhargalkar met SP (North) Chandan Chowdhary at her official residence and congratulated her for busting the Morjim gambling activity.
She urged Chowdhary to continue conducting more raids in other parts of Goa without succumbing to political pressure.
The Shiv Sena women’s wing is committed to help eradicate gambling in Goa as women face the brunt of the social evil it being the root cause of domestic violence, Dhargalkar said.
11 accused released on bail
PERNEM: The 11 persons who were arrested following a raid on a gambling den at Vitthaldaswada-Morjim were granted conditional bail by the Pernem JMFC.
The accused, Reginaldo D’Costa, Ankush Parab, Lamikant Gawde, Gajanan Morje, Pravin Parsekar, Agnel Fernandes, Laxmikant Mhamal, Pratap Salgaonkar, Anthony D’Souza, Vithal Goltekar and Damodar Govekar were directed to furnish a bond and to report to the police station from 8 am to 1 pm for a period of eight days.
Following the raid on the matka gambling den in Morjim, all accused were first taken to the Porvorim Police station on Friday evening and were later taken to the Pernem police station at night.
