MARGAO
Claiming that matka gambling is going on unchecked in each and every constituency with the patronage of politicians and police, former Minister Mickky Pacheco on Saturday dared the Manohar Parrikar-led government and the police top brass led by the DGP to work out a mechanism on the lines of the traffic sentinel scheme to take the battle against matka head on.
While offering to quit politics if any of the 40 MLAs can claim that their constituencies are free from matka gambling, the former minister demanded to know the progress and status of the probe initiated
by the SIT as per the High Court order.
“The government and the police top brass have gone to town tom-tomming that the traffic sentinel scheme has been a success. I want to ask the Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar as well as the DGP why a similar scheme is not put in place wherein citizens are authorized to click photos of matka agents and kingpins accepting bets in the towns and villages across the state,” Mickky said at a media briefing on Saturday.
“If accidents have taken away young lives for not wearing helmets, isn’t it a fact that matka and other gambling has devastated families across the state,” Mickky demanded to know, saying time has come for the government to crack down on matka.
Throwing up a gauntlet at the ruling dispensation to stop matka gambling, Mickky said the government headed by Manohar Parrikar should either crack the whip or
quit office.
“Let the government and the police explain to the people the action initiated by them following the High Court intervention. Let the MLAs, both ruling and opposition, come before the public and say that there’s no matka activity in their constituencies,” he said, adding “the way government is functioning, it is clear that it is not working for the people and the
common man”.
He demanded to know the status of the probe initiated by the High Court in matka gambling in the state. “The government should at least act against matka since the High Court is seized of the matter,” he said, while alleging
that members and workers of the both the BJP and the Congress are involved in matka gambling.
