The announcement by the police came following a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, according to reports. (Representational image)
A DAY after two young men died of suspected drug overdose at a party on Vagator beach in North Goa, the state police on Monday said that a 10 pm deadline will be enforced soon for rave and music parties in open, public places even as a state minister remarked that there is a “police-drug peddler nexus” in the state’s coastal belt.
The announcement by the police came following a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, according to reports.
It came on a day Town and Country Planning Minister Vijai Sardesai said that “drug trafficking cannot happen without collusion of some people at the top.”
Sardesai said, “Nobody in Goa government supports drug trade, which means some police officials are involved in it (drug trade). I want the government to crack down on such police officers.”
Sardesai also said that some quarters have raised an “irrelevant” demand to ban night parties to curb the drug menace. “We cannot finish the entertainment industry under the garb of a crackdown on drug trafficking. We will have to have a balanced approached and cannot let Goa earn a bad name in the process,” he added.
While opposition Congress accused the BJP-led state government of failing to curb the illicit drug trade in the coastal state, state water resources minister Vinod Palyekar, in whose constituency Vagator beach is situated, said he has directed North Goa’s Superintendent of Police Chandan Chowdhary to clamp down on the drug trade in the coastal belt. He suggested that a policy to regulate outdoor night parties be formed to discourage sale and consumption of drugs in the state.
With agencies inputs
