MARGAO/CURCHOREM: Cavrem villagers on Saturday protested the allegedly illegal transportation of ore and have demanded an immediate stop to the same. They have also demanded filing of an FIR against the Police Inspector and Police Sub Inspector of Quepem and their suspension for allegedly manhandling women protesters recently.
The villagers continued their agitation by sitting along the main road near Mallikarjun Milk Society in the village.
During the protest, the villagers shouted slogans against the government and local MLA. They had made an effigy of Sanguem MLA Subhash Phal Dessai with a garland of footwear around it to protest against him and the government.
Prominent among the protesters were Nilesh Gaonkar, Ravindra Velip, Prashant Naik and Dilip Prabhudessai of Goa Forward, Avinash Tavares of Congress, activists Ashish Kamat and Swati Kerkar and over 250 villagers of Cavrem. Congress MLA Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco, Fr Savio Fernandes and Fr Victor from Council for Social Justice and Peace also visited the protesters.
“We had placed five demands before the government, of which stopping ore transport was our prime demand,” said Gaonkar.
UTAA president and BJP vice president Prakash Velip gave a patient hearing to the protesters and has promised to fix a meeting with the Chief Minister to negotiate their demands.
However, the protesters stated that the government could not indulge in negotiations on one hand and continue ore transportation on the other.
Taramati Velip, a 70-year-old woman, alleged that the police assaulted her while she was proceeding towards her paddy fields which are adversely affected due to continuous mining activities in the area.
“We are here because the mining companies and other government authorities have not taken us into confidence while commencing the ore transportation from our village,” said another woman Radha Velip.
The villagers further demanded that MLA Ramesh Talwadkar and Prakash Velip, who are the leaders of tribal community, should look into their problems and help them get justice and stop the atrocities being inflicted on them by the Goa police in connivance with the government.
