FIRs to throw the people’s movement off track? Will it work?

The government has been filing FIRs to blunt protests. What is remarkable is the presence of ordinary people concerned at the manner at which the government has cleared projects and who are trying to push it through ignoring the sentiments of the people. A whole lot of people stood in line to protest at the Chandor ( Guirdolim)  rail crossing. The government is keen on maintaining an aggressive posture. Hundreds of ordinary goans across all age groups in Goa stood up at Chandor rail crossing; a remarkable historic movement. Government is by the people, for the people. There is always project scrutiny to understand the pros and cons much before passing any project such as coal hub. I believe people understood the cons and took a stand. The government hasn’t addressed the safety procedures on the cons. Well, anything can be well handled with right people in place. Dr Jorson Fernandes have always talked about pros and cons and how to handle to cons in the situation like this. We can always come to solutions of any major project if the cons are well dealt with. I think the government shouldn’t file blunt FIRS on protests as we the people of Goa have right to voice out our opinion as we see there is a loophole in the plan, which Govt can fix it to assure safety. We do need development but not at the cost of nature and environment. I watched most of the Chandor protest on Instagram LIVE up to 5 in the AM -Milroy Goes Film Director. Development in our Goa is a chronic case of misplaced priorities. So 1000s crores of precious public funds can be wasted on mega-projects with no direct, long-term human capital development benefits. But we don’t have 10s crores for creating modern livelihood opportunities for our youth in Goa through eco-friendly industries, or modern skill development to bridge the academia-industry gap, or bringing low-cost global best practices into our school education, or to improve the ease of doing business here. Whose development is this I truly wonder- Vincent Toscano IT professional. The people always have the right as they are the ones that vote. I can confidently say this was not the Goa I visited regularly from Mumbai in my childhood. The government does not seem to be willing to listen to the people. I suppose it is a case of being under pressure from the corporate lobby that funded their election campaign and now having to repay with interest. It never works out well in the long run- Terence D’lima Service. Preventing people from self harm and misleading others into situations where harm could be caused is the duty of the State. Interference with railway crossing is one such situation. People have a responsibility as well, as much, if not more than the Government does. Disrupting every development is not in the best interest of people. It is detrimental to progress- Meenacshi Martins Actress. The protest organised was a peaceful one, and is a form of expression, shutting it down and filing firs against the protestors at this point would not bring about a positive result, instead the voices of people need to be heard and their problems have to be understood by the authorities in order to bring about development not just for one sector of the society but for Goa, as a whole and this can be done only with public support and not by keeping them out of the loop -Pakhni Bannerjee Law student. When we are having a candle light peaceful protest, how can the government issue an FIR to the six members, today is a very sad situation where you see the police issuing FIR’s because they are under pressure from the CM. That is not right because if they had done something bad on that day, they should have been arrested that day. A FIR should have been filed and it was not done. It is a shameful act that after a few days, they realized there would another protest on the 8th and people are going to come in numbers and people are not scared now. People are ready to get hit, even take a bullet but they will show this present government as to what they are doing. They are not for the people because they have been funded for the elections by these so called businessmen. Now it their time to pay them back. It is a shame today that people versus the government is happening. We are going to be celebrating Liberation Day shortly on December 19 and it is a shame, we fought against Portuguese so we could have peace of mind but today we are fighting with our won governments. It is a shame for Goa and for India- Cecille Rodrigues Social activist. The right to protest may be a manifestation of the right to freedom of assembly, the right to freedom of association, and the right to freedom of speech. This right is mentioned in our constitution and has been upheld by our Supreme court. And the govt should listen to the protestors. Protests and listening to protestors validates democracy and is a sign of good governance- Bharat Kamat Businessman. The only purpose is greed. Indigenous wild life, people’s health and impact on the environment, seems to be the least of this governments concern. They don’t even care for the voice of the same people who put them in power.
Timothy Lobo Businessman