Goa: As peak tourism season approaches, illegal “Ladies Dance Bars” spring up in the North coastal belt

PANAJI: As Goa prepares for its peak tourism months of November, December and January, with thousands of foreign tourists expected to enter Goa from nations like Russia, UK, Germany, etc., not to forget the hordes of Indian domestic tourists, several criminal elements in the North Goa coastal belt have opened up illegal “Ladies Dance Bars” right from Morjim, Ashwem, Anjuna, Vagator to Baga, Calangute and Candolim.

The Baga to Candolim belt has the maximum number of illegal dance bars while other places like Arpora and Anjuna also in the North Goa coastal belt have at least 5 illegal “ladies dance bars” each.

Most of these bars were earlier run by one Gajendra alias Chotu Singh – a history-sheeter with several F.I.Rs registered against him – who is presently behind bars after he was denied bail by the Bombay High Court in the Souza Lobo restaurant vandalism and firing case. ALSO READ: Nearly 30,000 to 35,000 Russians cancel their plans to visit Goa this season, due to Ukraine-Russia conflict

Singh’s brother Manoj Singh has taken over his brother’s business and is running at least 10 such illegal bars in the North Goa coastal belt, with the cops looking the other way.

After a crackdown by the Calangute police in January this year, after the Souza Lobo case rocked the coastal state, several bars were shut down.

In all, as we had reported earlier this year, there were more than 40 illegal “ladies dance bars” in the North Goa belt in November-December last year. They were shut down in January this year, after a massive crackdown by the cops. Now many of them are slowly and slyly opening up. ALSO READ: More than 6000 British tourists have already cancelled their plans to visit Goa this year?

Manoj Singh used the services of another known history-sheeter  and criminal with several police cases against him –  Tarzan Parsekar of Nagoa, to strike terror in the hearts and minds of those who opposed or spoke up against these illegal “ladies dance bars”.

Local residents allege a North Goa MLA offers indirect support to these illegal dance bars and even owns a partnership in some of them.

They allege Panchayat authorities in the coastal villages are handsomely taken care of each month and the cops are not far behind. ALSO READ: More than 60 percent Brits hoping to arrive in Goa during Oct-Nov via charters cancel bookings: Goa Tourism takes a big hit

The Calangute and Anjuna Police Inspectors were not available for comment on this issue of “illegal ladies dance bars”.

We will update this post as more inputs come in to include the views of different stakeholders connected to this story.