VASCO: A delegation of liquor vendors, including bar and restaurant owners and liquor retailers, from Vasco on Monday met Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar and apprised him of their grievances, which have cropped up due to the closure of liquor business, following the Supreme Court order, which became effective from March 31 midnight.
The bar owners in their representation have stated that the workers, who were with them, for the last several years are facing unemployment.
“The closure of bars and restaurants also has affected the business of vegetable and fish vendors, as they were supplying vegetables and fish to the liquor vends, ”mentions the memorandum.
Parrikar assured the bar owners and liquor retailers that he would come out with a solution after seeking advice from legal experts.
Earlier, the affected liquor vendors met the Vasco MLA Carlos Almeida at his office, located in the heart of the town, and listed various problems being faced by them due to the closure of liquor vending.
Almeida listened to them, and assured them that the state government led by Parrikar would come out with a solution.
He told the bar owners and liquor retailers to give a representation to the Chief Minister on their grievances.
Following this, the Vasco MLA made immediate transport arrangement to ferry some of the bar owners and liquor retailers to Porvorim to meet the Chief Minister.
The delegation presented the memorandum to the Chief Minister at his chamber at the Secretariat complex. The delegation told him about the problems being faced with the closure of the liquor business.
The delegation included Mormugao municipal council chairperson Deepak Naik, Joaquim Rodrigues, Silvester D’Souza, Shripad Shetye, Francis Pereira, Anil Gadekar, Salvador alias Salu Pegado, Rammy D’Costa and others
The delegation asked the Chief Minister to come out with a solution so that they can restart their business by renewing the licences.
The bar owners disclosed that of the 663 liquor outlets in the Mormugao taluka around 494 outlets are affected.