Sticking to his promise to decongest River Mandovi fromoff-shore casinos, Chief Minister, Manohar Parrikar assured the House thatvessels lying abandoned and those that have not renewed their license would betowed away or auctioned.
Parrikar told the State legislative assembly that the ship,M V Leela, owned by Golden Globe Hotels Pvt Ltd would be taken over by theState government as it has been lying abandoned.
“Under tourism Act, if the ship is lying abandoned withoutrenewing its license, the State government has the power to tow away the shipor auction it,” Parrikar said.
He said that BJP-led government has already withdrawn thepowers to transfer a casino vessel from one company to another.
“The previous government had tried its level best to ensurethat if a ship is sold to another company its license would also betransferred, which I had objected to. I stand by my decision that a licensegiven to one company cannot be transferred to another,” Parrikar added.
He further informed that licences of two out of six casinosincluding the one belonging to Haryana Minister, Gopal Kanda have lapsed, asthey have not paid the required fees.
