'Goans are not alcoholics, perception needs correction'

Goa Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar on Friday said that an unfortunate perception of Goans being alcoholics and rinsing their mouth with alcohol instead of water every morning, needed correction.

"People outside Goa, visualise that Goans rinse their mouth with alcohol instead of water every morning and that they drink through to the night. You will not find Goans drinking all the time and swaying on the roads," Parsekar said while speaking to reporters at the state secretariat.

"Some say Goans hardly wear any clothes on them. In fact, Goans are well dressed people," Parsekar said, adding that the perception that drugs are easily available in Goa was also false.

Parsekar's comments come against the backdrop of a series of controversies over the last couple of years here, with ministers in the Goa cabinet and ruling legislators even demanding a dress code for tourists and special paid zones on beaches for women wearing bikinis.