Easy Come Easy Go(a)

Loaded Dice

Its election time again, and therefore it is issue time also; more appropriately casino issue time. There is the archetypical twist in the tale as well. It’s in the gamble Manohar Parrikar is taking. Ask yourself why on earth is he on Hotel Majestic’s case all of a sudden? There is much more to Majestic than Parrikar wants to tell us. An investigation into why its excise collections are so low could provide us all grist up to the next Assembly elections even. Whoever told Parrikar to investigate this aspect must have also told him the reasons why. Why the silence then? As for La Calypso, after it changed Baga’s landscape permanently, it then became a part of Goan folklore. No matter what the Bombay High Court says or does, no matter how many times this hotel, whose actions have become rather aggressive, is demolished; its powerfully rich owners will always defy the law and rebuild. At the worst, find a solution.

So what is Parrikar’s gamble? Apart from waking up a Rip Van Winkle-like case with the timing of an injury time cup final equalizer, he is deflecting public opinion away from La affaire Cidade de Goa. In fact Hotel Majestic has been screaming Goa’s actions (all the anti-casino stuff) are ‘anti-Goan’ to anybody who listens. Unfortunately it is so easy when the Congress is rolling the dice. Just look at the way it is making an ass of itself, chasing away the casinos to Aguada Bay, as if sneaking them away from the arc-lights is going to make the problem go away!

More on the Gravy Train

Then there is one more approved offshore floating casino in the pipeline. But, rumour has it there are actually three – the owners of two of them are Gujarati diamond dealers whom a certain cabinet minister has promised he can deal them through the encryption system that the Goa casino issue appears to have found itself in, obviously for a huge payout. Well, Digambar Kamat did say he had 21 applications in the kitty, didn’t he?

Trying to Have your Cake and Eating it

It’s going to be a mighty stale cake when the party is over. Because casino owners have queued up to take the government to court and by the way things are going, they could be on a winning streak because all they are asking is for government to point out where at the new location are the facilities to land gamblers coming to the casinos and how logistics like stevedoring, crew transfer etc, can happen. Right now the only thing going for this daft government is the fact that the casino owners, though they have one agenda, are divided on the basis that some are registered under a foreign flag while some are under the Indian flag. Therefore for the owners it does not matter if their casinos are moved out of the jurisdiction of the local authorities. Majestic Hotel which owns the Pride of Goa in fact claims its casino can withstand sea conditions; its problem is that certainly during bad weather pitching and rolling at the Aguada Bay will drive away gamblers. As a result owners of casinos registered under the Indian flag have twice their concerns.

Worse Concerns

Reading Wednesday’s English papers I discovered another angle –this government simply has no clue of shipping registry or offshore registry for that matter, as Parrikar has found out days ago to his utter glee. For one, it thinks the Hazardous Waste Management and Handling Rules of the Goa State Pollution Control Board apply to the casinos at their current anchorage because it seems Digambar Kamat thinks they are anchored ‘within the city limits of the Mandovi.’ What happens, hypothetically speaking, if they move out of the inland waterways governed by government through an archaic set of rules called the Inland Steam Vessels Act, 1917; to four nautical miles off Aguada Bay, where another act comes into force. You can bet he hasn’t thought this out, no one has. In other words this is going to be a Titanic problem.

Or of Queen Mary proportions

To begin with, this government has no idea what are the survey rules and regulations that govern casinos, particularly dry docking rules. This might shock you, but it is the stark naked truth. Such was its hurry to choke up the best part of the Mandovi with casinos, it approved eight mooring buoys for the casinos. Accordingly it approved and fixed locations for two mooring buoys for the Casino Royale at pre-designated latitudes and longitudes; asked the Pride of Goa to secure itself between two mooring buoys off the Mandovi Riviera with the help of mooring ropes on a temporary basis; ordered the Arabian Sea King to be berthed alongside of Barcolento at the RND jetty, Panjim on a ‘touch and go basis; berthed the Caravela at the Directorate of Fisheries jetty, Panjim; and asked The Leela to moor to two buoys at pre-designated latitudes and longitudes. The ‘touch and go’ accorded to the Arabian Sea King which I presume allows it to anchor mid-river and ferry gamblers from where the Barcolento is secured; means (and I can only assume again) the casino does not have to secure itself to mooring buoys. I have only one question for this government of nutty landlubbers. Who, as a result of what I have said above, will determine where and how the casinos are anchored at the Aguada Bay? Touché.

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