The decision by Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar to ban the sale of liquor at Old Goa during the ensuing 44 day exposition of the relicts of St Francis Xavier which begins on November 22nd is very high handed, uncalled for and unjustified. There has been no request to this effect from the Church and the Old Goa Panchayat has also strongly opposed it. The claim by Manohar Parrikar that people will drink and go to Church is just another of his crazy thought. Nothing of this sort has ever been witnessed during all the earlier expositions and even at the Feast of St Francis Xavier every year. Will the Chief Minister’s next move be to ban sale of pork and beef at Old Goa to play to keep content those fanatics within his party cadres.
The late night sale of liquor across Goa should instead have been the Chief Minister’s concern. After that Panaji Pub sword attack the Chief Minister had promised to clamp down on late night sale of booze. But he was quick to make a U Turn. Was it to secure the vested interest of Advocate General Atmaram Nadkarni whose to be son-in-law runs a very busy pub at Candolim serving liquor all the way till sunrise? Another concern of the Chief Minister should be the widespread sale of illicit and spurious liquor across the State. One of the kingpins in this business is his BJP Taleigao Mandal Chief who has a string of outlets in Panaji and Porvorim specializing in this network of selling spurious liquor. His family has been running this nefarious trade for decades while astutely being in good books with the political party in power. After cozying with the MGP and later Congress governments their trade now continues to thrive with their loyalty now swapped to the BJP. By making a Parivartan from party to party the family has kept their sale of duplicate liquor bottles booming. An now this illegal trade continues to thrive with the blessings of Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar who though fully aware of this criminal rot. But as usual it’s Zero action against the corrupt. Aires Rodrigues Advocate High Court C/G-2, Shopping Complex Ribandar Retreat, Ribandar – Goa – 403006 Mobile No: 9822684372 Office Tel No: (0832) 2444012 Email: airesrodrigu...@gmail.com Or airesrodrig...@yahoo.com You can also reach me on Facebook.com/ AiresRodrigues Twitter@rodrigues_aires