Goa minister accuses cop for tourism downfall in coastal belt

PANAJI: A ruling BJP minister from Goa has courted controversy by accusing an IPS officer of reducing tourist inflow in the state by raiding rave parties in the coastal belt.

State Art and Culture minister Dayanand Mandrekar, while opening a coastal police station, told a gathering yesterday that Superintendent of Police, Vijay Singh's act of raiding rave parties has hit tourism in coastal belts.

"I don't know what energy and what motive this SP had behind raiding beach parties. He was acting like a goon while raiding them," Mandrekar said in the presence of senior police officers, including Director General of Police Kishan Kumar and others.

Singh was also present among the audience. The minister said that Singh who held office in Porvorim, near Panaji, should have restriction himself to the jurisdiction.

"What business he had to do in the coastal belt ?," Mandrekar questioned.

The IPS officer was transferred early this year from North district and shifted to Traffic cell after he cracked down on drug dens in the state. He was responsible for raiding several notorious shacks in the belt of Anjuna, where cases related to narcotics were booked.

Mandrekar also questioned why coastal security needs to be strengthened.

"Why do we need to concentrate on the coastal security when terrorists can come from any direction," he asked.