PANAJI: Panaji MLA Atanasio Monserrate, who had pledged to get the casinos out of Panaji within 100 days of getting elected, said on Monday that the city’s business community has raised concerns that if they’re shifted, they won’t have any business.
“When the casinos were not functioning (during the Covid lockdown last year) there was no business,” he said. “It it felt that if they’re shifted, even after Covid, they will face a Covid-like situation.”
Earlier, ports minister Michael Lobo said that offshore casinos would continue to remain in the River Mandovi. Monserrate said he would clarify with Lobo on the same.
Monserrate claimed that he is of the “firm opinion” that casinos should be shifted from the Mandovi, and added that there earlier was a demand to shift them out due to traffic congestion.
The former TCP and education minister said that the proposal to shift the casinos is still pending before the CCP. Monserrate said he’s yet to study the issue, and that it would be discussed with Goa Tourism Development Corporation (GTDC) chairman Dayanand Sopte.
Meanwhile, speaking on the CCP election, Monserrate said that in his opinion, there is a need to bring new faces, but BJP is yet to take a stand on the issue. Monserrate has announced that he would replace 80% of the sitting corporators.
He also said that last election, there were two groups — one BJP, the other his. “If BJP continues to keep their senior members and I remove my senior members, it will be an issue,” he said. “I will take the party’s opinion, and the final decision will be taken by the party.”
Monserrate said that if opportunities are given to new candidates, they can perform better than existing corporators.