Panaji: Some Panaji residents and freedom fighter, Padma Shri awardee Libia Lobo Sardesai, were on Thursday removed from the CCP by cops for agitating against a new casino vessel in the Mandovi.Residents who reached CCP to pass a resolution against the upcoming casino were upset to find a posse of police at the council hall. They were also told that the scheduled meeting on the matter had been cancelled. CCP commissioner Clen Madeira informed them that the notice for the council meeting had not been issued to the corporators.Social activist Sabina Martins and former corporator Patricia Pinto also voiced their concern against such casinos. They met mayor Rohit Monserrate a few days ago, when the latter agreed to present their complaints before the CCP during the meeting.State AAP president Valmiki Naik accompanied the locals to alert the authorities about Delta Corp’s new 112-metre offshore casino vessel.“The vessel being brought in is six times the size of the vessel that it replaces. It is bigger than any of the buildings in Panaji. Govt has increased its mischief,” Naik said.“These casinos affect the daily lives of the residents of Panaji. If the mayor is not concerned about the residents and the city, and only wants to have a meeting about Carnival, then he has got his priorities wrong,” said Pinto.The mayor later apologised for the confusion. He said he had invited the residents based on the assumption that the notice convening the meeting had already gone out to the corporators. Monserrate further said that while he would have liked to halt the entry of casinos, the CCP had no role to play in the matter.“The new vessel is going to come to Reis Magos. The CCP has nothing to do with issuing licence for the casinos,” said Monserrate and added that the issue is being created only because of the upcoming CCP elections. “For five years, these people were quiet. That whole group is full of AAP and Congress people,” Monserrate told a local TV channel.
