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Goa Govt mounts pressure on offshore casinos
Goa tourism ministry has mounted pressure on offshore casinos asking them to get registered under Trade and Tourism Act, 1982.
Goa tourism ministry has mounted pressure on offshore casinos asking them to get registered under Trade and Tourism Act, 1982.
"As per tourism and trade act, any establishment with lodging and boarding facility or serving food and beverages has to be registered with the department," Lyndon Monteiro, officer on special duty to tourism minister, Fransisco Pacheco, told PTI.
Goa has seven such casinos of which six are operational.
Monteiro said the ministry has urged the off shore casino operators to register under the act to avoid the punishment.
Tourism officials said that under the act all hotels, accommodations, travel agencies, tour operators, water sports operators are supposed to be registered with the tourism department.
"Casinos have to be registered as they are plying on the vessels. The cruise ships ferrying the tourists around Mandovi River are also covered under it," a tourism official said.
The off shore casinos are increasingly being opposed from various quarters for various alleged irregularities.
Goa's Main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had launched the campaign against these casinos while two ministers - Pacheco (NCP) and Sudin Dhavalikar (Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party) have expressed apprehensions about the gambling vessels.
