NT NETWORK
PANAJI
Stating that ‘a glass of liquor’ every day, is a symbol of “Goemkarponn” (Goan ethos) and alcohol is a part of the Goan culture, the Congress party on Saturday said that the government of the Bharatiya Janata Party, which under its hidden agenda is trying to bring prohibition in Goa on the lines of Gujarat, is solely responsible for the closure of large number of liquor outlets in the state following the related Supreme Court order.
The Leader of the Opposition Chandrakant ‘Babu’ Kavlekar, addressing a press conference at the Congress House in the city said that the Goa BJP government, unlike the non-BJP governments in other states, viewed the related December 15, 2016 order lightly and did not file a review petition before the Supreme Court. “Had it done so then, like say states such as Meghalaya and Sikkim, the owners of the liquor outlets in Goa would have definitely received some respite from the apex court,” he said, stating that the Congress party and its legislators would always stand firmly behind the owners of the liquor outlets, if they now decide to approach the court.
The Margao MLA Digambar Kamat, speaking on the occasion said that the March 31, 2017 order of the Supreme Court as regards the liquor outlet issue clearly observes that Goa did not approach the Court for any relief. He also maintained that this order has not placed Goa in the list of the most road accident-prone state, and therefore, not tagged Goa to states like Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, with higher occurrences of road accidents.
Speaking further, Kamat said that the Goa government could have raised before the Supreme Court aspects like 38 per cent of forest cover for Goa, long Goan coastline, the state being governed by Coastal Regulation Zone, and two national highways directly passing through the state, so as to get some relaxation in the order. He also maintained that between the flyover in Margao and the Karebandh ward there are around 45 liquor outlets which will have to shut down.
The Margao MLA also said that the wholesalers of liquor could shift their business to some other location however it would be very difficult for the retailers to do so.
Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco, said that the situation in Goa could turn violent due to the closing of liquor outlets. He also said that a “glass of Liquor” every day represents “Goemkarponn” and hence all the liquor outlets in Goa should be saved.
A number of other Congress legislators including Jennifer Monserrate, Isidore Fernandes and Antonio ‘Tony’ Fernandes as also the senior Congress leader, Ramakant Khalap were also present at the briefing.