MAPUSA
In a startling revelation, Calangute Sarpanch Shawn Martins on Sunday said the police were hand in gloves with the pimps and touts along the coastal village and the panchayat was helpless.The charge brings to the fore the issue that if Goa Police do not listen to a sarpanch then what is the fate of the common man in the State.
Martins made the allegation during the gram sabha where villagers raised a hue and cry against the rise of touts and pimps menace in the village.
Upset locals informed the gram sabha that touts and pimps were having a free run on the beachside and in the village while prostitution was going on unabated in illegal spas and massage parlours.
Several villagers expressed unhappiness in the way the police have been handling illegal activities in the village.
“It is quite evident that the touts get prior information whenever there is going to be a raid, as they disappear from the scene whenever police arrive,” said Benedict Lobo, a local.
Villagers also claimed that touts distribute leaflets with phone numbers of illegal spas which double up as sex parlours.
Former Calangute sarpanch Joseph Sequeira said he has forwarded several complaints to the police along with photographic evidence of the menace caused by the touts and pimps but the cops have failed to take action.
He also blamed Calangute PI Nolasco Raposo for the mess and urged the panchayat to call for his transfer.
“Prostitution is rampant in Calangute while pimps and touts are having a field day along the coast. PI Nolasco Raposo is the main culprit as he has failed to take action despite several complaints,” Sequeira said.
Sarpanch Shawn Martins admitted the rise in illegal activities of touts and pimps in the village but said he could not do much on the issue as handling crime was the prerogative of the police and that he was not getting cooperation from them.
“I agree with you that the police are hand in glove with the touts and they are informing them whenever raids are going to take place. But the panchayat cannot do anything in the matter. We have written to the police several times as crime is the responsibility of the police,” Martins said.
The villagers also demanded forming of a vigilance committee to round up the touts and called for an inspection to identify illegal spas and massage parlours along the coastal belt.
The sarpanch informed that the panchayat could do very little about the hazard of online advertising of illegal spas.
The gram sabha also resolved to retain the village status of Calangute and get the urbanization plan de-notified.
Martins said that he has already set the ball rolling in the matter and written to the chief secretary and other authorities to de-notify Calangute as an urban area.
He, however, said that he was yet to get a reply from the authorities.
Issues of irregular power supply and incomplete sewerage system were also raised by the villagers at the gram sabha..
