Valpoi: The 22 Shel-Melauli villagers, who were booked by the police for mprotesting against proposed IIT project, have been issued notices by the court. They will have to be present for the first day of hearing today. This indicates that the issue of IIT at Shel-Melauli is not done in its entirety yet.
During the anti-IIT protests at Shel-Melauli, six women police personnel were injured after the protestors pelted stones on them. The Goa Government had filed a case against them.
It may be noted that even though the proposed project at the village was scrapped, yet the cases against the local protestors weren’t dropped. There was protests held once again demanding withdrawal of the cases filed against the locals at Shel-Melauli. But the government did not pay any heed to the demand.
The protests, which lasted for four months, led to the government later shifting the site of the project elsewhere.
Meanwhile, Siddhu Gaonkar who led the protests many times was elected as a panch in the recently held panchayat elections. Gaonkar, who had taken an aggressive stance against the local MLA Vishwajeet Rane, announced his support to the MLA after being elected as panch.
Locals are now curious whether Rane will be giving any special attention in the matter anymore.
