Goa Forward MLA Vinod Palienkar said that Sawant did not have the political will to crack down on rave parties which are fuelled by drug trade.
This picture has been used for representational purpose
A Goa opposition MLA, a former cabinet minister, has dared Chief Minister Pramod Sawant to make him a CM for 10 days to put an end to rave parties in the coastal state.
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Rave parties are back in the buzz in Goa, especially after the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) on Saturday, busted a beachside rave outside a popular beach shack and seized a variety of drugs, arresting five persons, including a Swiss national in the process, for possession of drugs.
Days after the raid, Goa Forward MLA Vinod Palienkar from Siolim assembly constituency, home to beach villages like Anjuna, Vagator, Chapora, which are popular rave party hubs, has now said that Sawant did not have the political will to crack down on rave parties which are fuelled by drug trade.
"The police know everything. Rave parties have been going on relentlessly in Goa especially in my constituency. The Chief Minister lacks the political will to crack down on them, because the drug trade is linked to his political party," Palienkar, a former Fisheries Minister, said.
"Make me a CM for 10 days, see how I will put an end to all this. Locals as well as foreigners are involved. If need be, I will form a team of 40 to 50 people and start it myself (shutting down raves)," Palienkar further said.
Rave parties have been the norm in North Goa's coastal belt, since the heyday of the hippies in the 1960s. Once casual affairs often organised at whim by beach village congregations of hippies, rave parties are now an organised business, with handbills, social media, advertising blitzes preceding such events.
The common use of drugs, by rave party revellers and loud thumping music which stretches through the night has however caused consternation among a section of residents of beach villages like Anjuna, Chapora, Vagator, Morjim, Arambol, etc.
While recurring complaints about rave parties have been reported to the police, the lack of action on the part of the uniformed executive, has often resulted in social tension in parts of coastal Goa.
Last week's bust of a rave party by the Narcotics Control Bureau team organised by a popular beach shack near Anjuna beach, has however brought the issue back in the limelight.
"The NCB raid has exposed the duplicity of the Goa Police, which has failed to crack down on rave parties which are being regularly held," Palienkar added.
Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, however, said that he has given a free hand to the Anti-Narcotics Cell of the Goa Police to crack down on drug trade.
"I have given a free hand to the narcotics cell. We want Goa to be drug-free. I want to arrest those linked to drugs, as Home Minister," Sawant said.
Responding specifically to a query related to rave parties, the Chief Minister said: "Action will be taken against all illegalities".
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