Team Herald
SANGUEM: Chaos reigned at a meeting convened by a farmers group to discuss the proposed IIT project at Sanguem, when a large group of young ‘IIT supporters’ barged in, and disrupted the gathering with loud slogans.
The situation worsened when a posse of police personnel turned up to control the situation, but only managed to add to the ruckus that ended only when DySP Nilesh Rane asked the organisers to call off the meeting and vacate the hall immediately.
A scuffle ensued outside the hall, and one of the organisers was injured when a bottle flung by a protestor hit him in the head.
The meeting was organised at Shrison Plaza, for the farming community from Sanguem town, Uguem, Devlamol and Cotarli village to discuss the IIT project, and the possible environmental implications of the project on the agricultural village.
Hardly five minutes into the event, when environmental activist Abhijit Prabhudessai was about to speak, the large group entered the hall, throwing the meeting into a state of disorder. Loud chants of “We want IIT!” filled the room for close to half an hour, and all attempts by the convenors to placate the crowd, and offers to let them address the gathering in a civilised manner, were ignored.
The IIT supporters wanted to know the role of the activist Prabhudessai in addressing the meeting, when it was meant to be for the farming community of the agrarian taluka. A large posse of police then entered the hall, and tried to remove the protestors to allow the meeting to carry on. The chants got louder, and the group refused to leave, stating that they would ensure that the IIT project is constructed at Sanguem, “at any cost”.
The meeting organisers blamed police officials for the entire fiasco and claimed the situation could have been brought under control if the group had been asked to be seated inside the hall, and allowed to speak after the preliminary discussion.
The IIT supporters, were however in no mood to listen, and only left the hall after DySP Nilesh Rane intervened and asked everybody to leave.
The drama continued however, when one of the protestors caught the main organiser Constancio Mascarenhas by the collar, as he was leaving with co-organiser Santano Rodrigues.
After a verbal clash, the duo managed to get into their vehicle. As they began to drive away, a few of the pro-IIT protestors fell on the road in front of their car, and then demanded the immediate arrest of Rodrigues for endangering their lives.
Rodrigues and Mascarenhas told Herald that the police had given them assurance that they would get them safely through the group of agitators, to their vehicle parked downstairs, but claimed that they did not intervene during the scuffle.
In another incident that occured at the meeting, , social worker Messiah D’costa was hit by a bottle which was thrown at him by some IIT supporters. D’costa then lodged a complaint at Sanguem Police Station against the protestors who attacked him. He claimed the agitators were BJP party workers. D’costa called the disruption of the meeting another move by BJP supporters to silence the opposition. “This is the end of democracy,” he said.
