Cavrem unrest in 2011 and now in 2016 is only because of elections, to pursue my defeat

Herald: Why is that the Cavrem locals are tooth and nail against you as their MLA? Why have you failed to break ground with your people?

Subhash Phaldessai: My father was an unopposed Sarpanch for three terms in Cavrem-Pirla panchayat, my brother was a sarpanch here, I was a panch and then won a ZP election in Cavrem and I am now an MLA of Sanguem that includes voters in Cavrem and you’re saying, I can’t break ground with the residents of Cavrem? This is a small minority of people who come up just before elections to defame me. They did this in 2011 before 2012 elections and now their back in 2016 but they won’t defeat me.

Herald: But Cavrem residents are sitting on the streets to oppose the ore traffic, they allege illegal mining and they don’t want mining in the village.

Phaldessai: The ore has to pass through five other villages and not Cavrem alone. The road is only used and that too all government regulations are followed, the trucks are covered, the dust is not affecting them. Mining takes place five kms away from Cavrem, this is an unwanted dharna to extort money. Can Ravindra Velip justify the bribes he took? I showed you the photocopy of cheques. You only want to elaborate two lines of this small Velip community into 100 words. What about the rest who want mining.

Herald: But they say, you are a mines contractor being the MLA. And it’s not e-auctioned ore but freshly extracted ore that isbeing moved. Also you’re saying cheques paid are bribes and accounted for by mining firms?

Phaldessai: No, actually bribes to these Velips who extort through these rasta roko of mining firms runs into crores of rupees which is unaccounted for. Sadly mining firms had to pay this to keep mining alive and survive. It’s only after Manohar Parrikar and the BJP came to power, we empowered legality into the mining business and cash was transferred and accounted for when paid to locals and only that is in cheque payments and written down in the books of accounts. I maintain my stand that, these locals are a small group of fraudulent activists who run cooperatives to extort. From my end, I stopped mining activity in 2011 and have nothing to do with mining but only want to facilitate it to help my voters, make some money.