PANJIM: Cavrem residents have alleged that government authorities were harassing them despite them initiating steps to stop illegal transportation of ore. At a press conference, anti-illegal mining activist Ravindra Velip, who was beaten up in judicial custody, stated that the government was deliberately troubling the residents to allow the illegal activity.
“The government should acknowledge that we are making an attempt to stop illegality in the mining business but the locals are in turn subjected to torture,” Velip, supported by a large group of locals, said.
Meanwhile, Aam Aadmi Party lodged a protest with the DGP on the continued intimidation and violent suppression of the protests by Cavrem villagers.
A large number of AAP volunteers gathered outside the Police Headquarters and raised slogans against the ‘fascist and authoritarian behaviour’ of the BJP-led government alleging it was using “State machinery to violently suppress the tribal villagers and allowing mining companies to get away with daylight robbery of iron ore.”
The party asked the government to immediately stop its intimidation and violent suppression of the people and stop illegal transportation of ore.
In its petition to the DGP, the delegation demanded that accountability be fixed in the Velip assault case by suspending Jail Superintendent Sabaji Shetye and Deputy Superintendent Bhanudas Pednekar, and registering an FIR which is pending for over a fortnight.
