Goa: ‘Spot identified for shifting offshore casino’

PANAJI: Ports minister Michael Lobo said a spot has been identified for shifting one offshore casino, while the other five will also follow suit by finding spots for their relocation.
After the cabinet meeting on Wednesday, Lobo told reporters, “A site for moving out one offshore casino has been found. Similarly, sites will be identified for shifting the other vessels.”
Without revealing the name of the site, the ports minister said the company operating the offshore casino in question has agreed to shift to this new spot.
During the previous cabinet meeting, Lobo had said some ministers had requested chief minister Pramod Sawant to come out with a casino policy and fix a schedule for shifting the casinos in phases.
“At the last cabinet, we told the CM that he should come out with a casino policy and spell out that offshore casinos will be shifted within a certain period in a phased manner,” he said.
He said former chief minister Manohar Parrikar was on record for shifting of the offshore casinos at Mopa by allowing the operators certain time to set up the infrastructure there.
With work on the Mopa airport being stayed, Lobo said declaring a schedule to relocate the casinos at Mopa now doesn’t make sense.
“Once Mopa airport work begins, we can start talking about relocating them there,” he said.