On Monday, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant reassured the legislative assembly that the administration had no intentions to continue approving offshore casinos in the face of persistent criticism about the growing number of casinos in Goa."We have no plans to licence any more casinos. In response to the requests for grants for the home department, he said that there will be no further offshore casinos in Goa. For adding more casinos, the State administration has regularly come under fire. The Opposition benches urged the administration to cease blaming Congress for the casino problem in the last week alone, pointing out that while Congress had only allowed one casino, the BJP-led government had increased its presence in Goa. Additionally, the opposition advised the administration to avoid making Goa become another Bangkok. The Chief Minister promised that the issue of casino tax evasion will be investigated.
According to recent reports, the Directorate General of GST Intelligence said that casinos in Goa and Sikkim have evaded paying taxes totalling Rs 10,000 crore. In response to Leader of the Opposition Yuri Alemao on the news story, the Chief Minister remarked, "I will get the information verified through the Home Department and GST Department."Sawant once more denied rumours that the government intended to use the floating jetties constructed as part of the Sagarmala project for freight operations in response to concerns raised about them."The jetties are only used for touristic purposes; they are not used to handle goods. Don't instil terror in the populace, he commanded the opposition. The Chief Minister also highlighted that the Sagarmala project of the Centre is just developing a number of jetties for the purpose of promoting internal tourism.
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