Panaji: Leader of Opposition Yuri Alemao on Wednesday accused Chief Minister Pramod Sawant of being more interested in exempting casinos from the levy of 28 percent of Goods and Service Tax on the pretext of tourism footfalls, other than recovering dues of Rs 349 crore pending from the land-based casinos.
In a press note released here, Alemao said that it is surprising that instead of recovering dues from the casinos, CM Sawant is keen to help them by excluding them from GST under the pretext of increasing tourism footfalls.
Alemao questioned whether CM wants to prove that the tourism sector is dependent only on the casinos. The LoP alleged that there were instances in the past in which casinos from other countries were advertising in Goa and CM had failed to pull down their hoardings.
“These casinos were advertising in the state by violating section 12 of the Goa Daman and Diu Gambling Act. But there was no action by the government. The concerned departments have completely failed to tackle such menace,” he said.
Alemao said that if CM wants to establish that the tourism footfalls are dependent on casinos then, he is admitting that the state tourism department’s policies like Home Stay and Caravan (policy) have failed.
“So also, the initiatives like eco tourism, wellness tourism, Ayurveda tourism, spiritual tourism, sports tourism and monsoon tourism has failed,” he added.
