PANAJI: Chief minister Pramod Sawant on Friday reiterated that he was open for discussions with Melauli villagers over the IIT-Goa campus for an amicable solution.
“I don’t want to trouble them. They should come and meet me. I have invited them to Panaji,” he said.
Sawant alleged the villagers had agreed to come for discussions but “NGOs and political parties” instigated them not do so.
He appealed to the villagers to allow the government to conduct the demarcation survey. “IIT is an issue of development and parties and NGOs are here to stop all development,” Sawant said.
Sawant also told the people to look at the track record of the NGOs, who have been filing cases against the government. “People should know the NGOs and not go along with them,” he said.
Without giving any commitment whether the FIRs lodged against the protesters would be withdrawn, the chief minister said they should first come forward to discuss the issue and said no attempt to murder cases were filed against any children.
“Protesters attacked police with sharp weapons at the time of demarcation. The Bicholim PI was injured. They have even thrown masala water at police. Goans should not have this sort of attitude. We should sit across the table and discuss the issue,” Sawant said.
He also defended his decision not to visit Melauli to hold talks with the protesters.
“The sugarcane farmers wanted me to visit them at Sanguem, but when I invited them to come over to Panaji, they came and the issue was resolved,” he said.
Earlier, BJP state president Sadanand Shet Tanavade said Sawant shouldn’t go to Melauli. “Why should he go there again? He is the CM and has already been good enough to go twice. I myself will tell him not to go,” he had said.
Tanawade also accused the villagers of having a “mob mentality”.
On health minister and Valpoi MLA Vishwajit Rane keeping a studied silence on the issue, Sawant said Rane had already spoken to the villagers and tried to convince them.
But when they refused to budge, “Rane said that being the education minister and the chief minister, I should handle the issue and that is the reason I am looking into it,” he said.
Sawant said over the past couple of years, some villagers have been cultivating crops on the government land. “Only 17 families of Melauli were cultivating on the government land, and this project will not only benefit those 17 families but the entire village,” he said.
He also dismissed former Goa RSS chief Subhash Velingkar’s allegation that BJP is in a conspiracy against his son, who has been arrested at Melauli, “Who asked Shailendra to go to Melauli?” Sawant asked.