Team Herald
PANJIM: It was a “black day” for Goa as the State was literally held to ransom and the police had to resort to a lathi charge to disperse the agitating mining dependents. Not that the situation has arisen for the first time, this happened in 2012 protestors of the mining dependents too.
The State clearly lacked a chief minister, who could take a quick decision. Even if Mr Manohar Parrikar wasn’t there, Goa needed a presence of a senior minister given the charge of Chief Minister. It could have been anyone who capable of taking a decision – a leader who would not to allow the roads to be blocked or somehow move the protestors to the Azad Maidan.
Unfortunately, Ramkrishna (Sudin) Dhavalikar and Vijai Sardesai, both members of the Cabinet Advisory Committee, were ill at ease trying to come to terms with who would take firm decisions. They had no clear mandate. As they tried
to pacify the agitators they faced verbal abuse from the crowd.
Neither of the ministers was ready to take a firm decision to clear the logjam, justifying apparent inaction by stating, “They are all Goemkars”.
On the other hand, North Goa SP Chandana Choudhary and Collector Nila Mohanan tried hard but were overpowered by the agitators, unable to control the crowd that later turned violent.
TCP Minister Sardesai said there was no leadership among the mining dependents which made things worse as no one person was accountable. “In my opinion the people who are doing this are our Goans and we also had sympathies for them. We just requested them to disburse from the area as the traffic, in which there were tourists, ambulances and students, was stuck. This was avoidable but it happened, it’s unfortunate. If any Goan gets a beating it hurts but in such protests it’s unavoidable,” Sardesai said.
On the the lathi-charge, he said, “Every action has equal and opposite reaction, this obstruction to the national highway can go on till a certain time and period, actually it cannot be allowed to happen. We had anticipated this yesterday that if the mob gathers at this place then the highway would be affected.”
He added, “Police was arranged and we are thankful that nobody has missed their exams but we somehow did not think on the students getting back home. Nobody should have been allowed to alight from their vehicles here,” he said.
On the other hand, PWD MInister Sudin Dhavalikar stated Union Highways and Shipping Minister Mr Nitin Gadkari will be meeting the mining dependents.
“He (Gadkari) has given appointments based on the various unions related to the mining industry. He will also meet party members of MGP and GFP and after that he will meet the cabinet ministers,” he said.
Asked whether he was hit by a plastic bottle, Dhavalikar said, “That is ok. I was the only person without taking any police force. I am not aware of the people who hit me and I don’t care.”
Dhavalikar and Deputy Speaker Michael Lobo, however, showed a clear bias towards the protestors by these remarks. Asked if the police failed to disperse the crowd in the morning, he said, “It is not because of the lack of leadership that the crowd could not be cleared in the morning. Their (protestor’s) leadership failed as they were not coming together. They have about 20 unions and could not come together and that is the reason it was delayed and finally you know what happened.”
“Lastly some agitators threw stones on the police and then police acted, there was no order for lathi charge from the Collector. Police have just pushed them,” he said.
Lobo said, “The dependents of mining have to be protected at any cost, so our demand today in the meeting will be only one – that mining has to start in Goa there is no second thought.”
He said that all the leaders have to sit and work out the modalities and that forming of a mining corporation or auction can be thought at a later stage.
“There are instances where ordinances are being issued by the Central government. We want immediate solution to the problem that mining should start and there should not be any delay for this,” he said.
It is not clear though how or what kind of an ordinance can be issued to over ride a Supreme Court order.
