Delta Corp’s new casino vessel will not enter Mandovi: Sawant

Panaji: Chief minister Pramod Sawant said on Wednesday said that Delta Corp’s 112m-long casino vessel will not be allowed to be moored near the capital city. Sawant, who met anti-casino activists, said that Delta Corp was asked to revise the application for permission to bring the ship as a replacement vessel for an older offshore casino.

“I keep saying this, there are some people, the opposition and others, who are trying to create apprehensions among people about the casinos,” said Sawant. “The boat is not coming. I am clearly saying this: the boat will not come. They asked for permissions, and we told them clearly to revise it. The boat will not come.”


Sawant did not provide any clarity about the future of the massive vessel that is reported to have a capacity of 2,000 persons.

The chief minister also said that he convened a meeting with the heads of 35 taxi associations in the hope of arriving at a consensus regarding the digital taxi policy. Sawant said that the taxi logjam was pending for a long time and needed to be resolved soon.

“The meeting will be held tomorrow at 11am at the Mantralaya. The proposed policy is expected to benefit both taxi operators and tourists,” said Sawant.

The meeting will take place just a day before the state legislative assembly meets for the budget session. “Safety, security and transparency will be ensured, and the taxi business will also remain in their hands. This issue will be resolved, and it should get resolved because they agreed to this policy earlier. Govt moved to ease things,” said Sawant.