Set up anti-narcotics task force in Goa: Congress

The party also added that CM Parsekar's statement that Goa's reputation as a narco-tourism destination was fuelled by tourists was wrong

The Congress Friday demanded a special anti-narcotics task force and implementation of recommendations made by legislative committee probe on the police-politician-drug mafia nexus in order to made Goa drug-free by 2016.

In an official statement issued Friday, party organising secretary Durgadas Kamat said that the task force should be set up within a month and should comprise of officials from the Narcotics Control Bureau, Enforcement Directorate, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, Custom and Central Excise and non-corrupt and honest officials from Goa Police "which would help to stop the growing network of politicians, police drug mafia nexus in Goa and also would keep watch on the music festivals which are been organised along the state's coastline".

The Congress also said that Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar's statement that Goa's reputation as a narco-tourism destination was fuelled by tourists was wrong.

"In 2013-2014 itself, a total of 62 locals and 23 foreigners were arrested, and this contradicts Parsekar's statement which said that drug trade is increasing due to tourists," Kamat said.

The Congress also demanded that the government should act on the findings of a legislative committee probe which indicated at a police-politician drug mafia nexus in Goa.

The probe committee report tabled last year had indicted a former home minister's son as well as a now former director general of police, among others, for their links to drug trade.

While the Goa government has officially maintained that there is no organised narcotics syndicate in Goa, local police have conducted at least one drug raid every week over the last three years.

Goa is one of the top beach tourism destinations in the country and attracts nearly three million tourists every year.

The state also has a reputation for easy availability of cheap narcotic substances.