Crackdown
on suspcious outsiders
Sandesh Prabhudesai
28 October 2002
Goa
government has decided to crackdown on any suspicious
person staying in the tourist state for over a
fortnight, as a security precaution.
"People need not get panic,
but it is for everybody's safety they are requested
to co-operate", said chief minister Manohar
Parrikar.
The alert has been sounded in the
tiny coastal state, following a bomb explosion
in Bali in Indonesia that killed 181 innocent
people, besides sudden rise in thefts and dacoities
here.
The district magistrates are expected
to issue a declaration in this regard, requesting
outsiders to report to the police with all the
necessary information regarding their identity
and whereabouts.
"Time has come to crackdown
on these suspicious elements, who are found to
be moving or staying in a suspicious manner for
a long time, without any specific work",
states Parrikar.
While a decision in this regard
was taken at a regular law and order meeting called
by the chief secretary last week, the legislators
of ruling parties in the BJP-led coalition government
also expressed concern in this regard at a meeting
today.
In a major breakthrough in one of
the dacoities that rocked Goa, the police realised
that the dacoits were living in the state for
over two months, with the local help.
"We cannot help but to make
it mandatory even for the hoteliers to inform
the police about the tourists - Indian or foreign
- who come down to stay for over a fortnight",
states Karnal Singh, the DIG of Police.
It may not apply to those who come
down to stay with a Goan friend or relative, but
especially those staying on rental basis for a
long time, with no specific purpose, states the
chief minister.
He has also instructed the police
to crackdown on those who put up illegal hutments
on roadside and sell herbal medicines or some
craft items. "I am not against people coming
down to Goa, but it is also my responsibility
to look after their safety", he states.
Besides normal tourists or some
people who come down for business and stay even
over a fortnight, many foreigners stay here for
not less than three months in small rooms attached
to the houses of locals all along the Goan coast.
