Gambling in Goa backed by police and politicians, will soon be stopped ! – Kamalesh Bandekar

Experience narrated about efforts made to stop malpractices taking place during religious fairs in temples

Religious fairs are held in temples of Goa on big scale; but unfortunately, on same scale, people gamble in the night during these festivals and thousands of people take part in gambling. It is sponsored by members of temple committees and has turnover of black money in millions of rupees. Along with people from temple committees, local politicians and police are also involved in this and it is going on for many years. Tables are placed for gambling and not only how much bribe is to be given to police is fixed but CID also get its share; therefore, they don’t send any report at higher level.

Goa State seems to be rich superficially but most of the people of Goa are poor and the reason behind it is gambling. The harm caused to Dharma due to gambling is even higher. I started opposing to such gambling; therefore, stones were pelted on my house by hooligans and I had to face opposition even from police. Still, we continued our efforts. Lodging complaints at higher level of State Administration and its follow up was done constantly besides creating awareness amongst temple committees. Now, gambling has been stopped in our taluka. Politicians are also slowly cutting down their participation. Few temple committees have stopped making arrangements for gambling during religious festivals. With God’s grace, movement against gambling is getting success and we are sure that in coming period, gambling will be totally stopped in North Goa.