Panaji, Jul 25 (IANS): Foreign nationals tending bars in Goa without work visas should be deported, a BJP legislator said Wednesday.
Michael Lobo, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA from Calangute, said there were several instances in his constituency where bars and restaurants were being illegally manned by foreigners who were in India on tourist visas.
Calangute has one of most popular beach stretches of Goa -- from Baga to Sinquerim.
"Foreigners working in bars should be deported if they are not here on a work visa. They work in bars and thus deprive locals of jobs," Lobo said.
"Foreigners running the businesses of restaurants and pubs should be banned because they do not give much to the state exchequer," he said.
Goa gets nearly 2.6 million tourists annually, out of which half a million are foreigners. The Baga-Sinquerim stretch alone is visited by hundreds of thousands of tourists.