Two Tribals dead in 24 hrs that shook Goa but no answers as to how they died as The Goan looks back at Balli Riots on its first anniversary
Tribal leaders love to talk aboutthe presence of 10,000 people on May 25, 2011 to stall south Goa but the riotsthat erupted in Balli in the evening makes their memory go hazy.
Mr Prakash Velip one of Goa’smost prominent tribal leader claimed that all necessary permissions was takenfrom the authorities and that everyone from the Chief Minister to theSuperintendent of Police to the Collector was aware of the Balli agitation.
He said “From 9am to 3pm our delegationsat and blocked the road and railway line very peacefully while RameshTawadkar, Prakash Velip junior, Vasudev Gaonkar and many others spoke. I wastold to come alone at 10 am to the Cuncolim police station to meet the thenTribal Affairs minister Mr Philip Neri Rodrigues at the Police station. He statedthat 10 of our 12 demands would be met while the remaining two would requireChief Minister Digambar Kamat’s approval. I invited Mr Kamat but he rejectedsaying that the minster was authorized to do everything.”
At 3 pm the tribal leaders convincedthe Velips to open the railway line. The SP Mr Tony Fernandes and the collectorMr G P Naik who had brought a small force of 100 police to control the 10,000mob ordered the crowds to open the highway or face trouble.
The present tribal affairsminister and Cancona MLA Mr. Ramesh Tawadkar said “ We started to walk in fourdifferent directions and asked our people to follow us in order to clear theroads. However the police started the lathicharge. My car was blocked and I wasthere with my wife. Vehicles were torched and I went into hiding. Some of thetribals hid in the houses of locals nearby. Goons took control and there was nosign of the police,” added Mr Tawadkar.
Former Sanguem MLA Vasudev MengGaonkar who was part of the agitations alleges that some goons and locals who torchedAdarsh and the vehicles around it killed Mangesh Gaonkar and Deelip Velip.
“I received a call at 5 pm andlearnt that Aachal-Aadarsh was torched and my staffs were trapped in it. Atseven they were rescued and the flames doused. News came of the death of the twoboys. We later learnt that our stalwart velip leaders were gagged, bleed,choked stabbed and brutally killed in the toilet of the Adarsha building,”remembers a teary eyed Mr Prakash Velip.
Gajanan Faldesai, 28, one of the14 accused against whom a chargesheet was filed by crime branch in court in theriots is now dead after committing suicide and the others have gone scot free. Thetribals live in fear and their demands have not been met.
Sources suggest that Mr Tawadkarwas rescued along with his wife by upper caste Dessai’s, which explains hissilence. Mr Tawadkar faced the brunt in the recent elections wherein thetribals voted for his rival but he came through because of 5,000 Dessai votes.
