the goan I network
PANAJI
The ‘mild’ lathicharge on the protesting mining dependents was unavoidable, the three-member cabinet advisory committee which met on Wednesday to review the incidents of the last four days, has said.
Addressing the media, after the meeting the leaders said that the mining dependents were provoked by the ‘illegal’ infiltration by the leaders of the North Goa Tourist Taxi Operators Association.
“Their agitation was violent from the beginning. We began meeting 20 of them. While we were meeting, the taxi union came there and they gave violent speeches and there was all confusion.
“They (taxi operators) had not told us that they will take part in the protest. That was illegal but still, we said: ‘We will listen to them… we will give them a chance’ but then people began pelting stones so the police had no alternative. The police did not give the order, neither did the collector,” Dhavalikar said.
“We had asked that the bridge must be cleared, but since there was no leadership, it could not happen. There was a law and order situation, they took the law into their own hands and hence there was the decision,” Dhavalikar said.
“People have a right to protest in a democracy. Nobody said there should not be a protest at all. Today the public is saying that the way the disruption happened, is completely wrong. It is also inhuman,” Sardesai said adding that certain people like those who were patients, tourists, etc were affected.
Sardesai recalled how he also led agitations in the past but ensured that those who needed to be where they had to were allowed to travel.
The duo was keen to stress that it was the government that suffered more than the agitators during the lathi charge.
“Whatever they did was wrong and the police have acted only when every other possibility was exhausted. That too more police have been injured than the protesters,” Sardesai said.
“The government is responsive and is looking at this issue of the mining dependents sympathetically. Which is why we took the decision to file the review petition. Despite all this, the way the protest was usurped, the protesters have begun to lose the sympathy of the people,” Sardesai added.
