VALPOI: The protests against the proposed IIT project at Melauli in Sattari soared on Monday, as hundreds of villagers from neighbouring Mauxi, Dhabe and Khotodem entered Melauli’s forests to join the agitation. Residents from Mauxi marched almost 20km towards Melauli, shouting slogans, even as police attempts to stop the protesters failed.
Together, the protesters have given the government a 10-day ultimatum to shift the campus out of Melauli.
Residents have also demanded the suspension of Valpoi PI Sagar Ekoskar and the withdrawal of all FIRs filed against Melauli residents; these cases were registered after the January 6 clash between villagers and police personnel.
On Monday, the villagers threatened to hold a Valpoi bandh by evening if local Kalpesh Gaonkar was not released from police custody. The bandh, however, was called off as Gaonkar and two others, Vishwesh Prabhu and Shailendra Velingkar, were released on bail.
Convenor of Melauli Panchkroshi Gram Bachav Andolan (MPGBA) Shashikant Savordekar said that they would not stop their protest until the IIT is shifted out of Melauli. “If the government has guts, it should arrest all the villagers,” said Savordekar.
MPGBA co-convenor Shubham Shivolkar demanded a legal inquiry against Ekoskar for stepping on to a woman’s chest during the January 6 protest, when women were lying on the ground at Melauli to stop surveyors from carrying out land demarcation. “If the proposed IIT is not shifted from Melauli in 10 days, the government will face dire consequences,” he said.
Shivolkar said that the villagers also condemn health minister and Valpoi MLA Vishwajit Rane for not coming out to take a strong stand on the IIT issue despite the protests. “If his attitude towards this project remains the same, we will send bangles to him, let him wear them and sit at home,” he said.
Shivolkar said that chief minister Pramod Sawant, despite being an ayurvedic doctor, doesn’t seem to know the value of medicinal plants at the proposed IIT site in Melauli, as he has agreed to the project detrimental to the local flora.
A Mauxi villager, Sanjay Gaonkar, said that hundreds of Mauxi residents decided to march to Melauli seeing the locals’ ‘pain’. “Villagers do not have land ownership rights... in every village of Sattari. So we request villagers of entire Sattari taluka to come forward and save their properties as this government can take over people’s properties at any time,” Gaonkar said.
Another Melauli villager challenged Sawant to stop villagers from different parts of Sattari, who will now keep coming forward to support Melauli’s locals. He said the government has harassed Melauli villagers due to the IIT project. “Our villager Kalpesh Gaonkar, who was arrested by police recently, was the sole breadwinner of his family, as he doesn’t have parents. He only has an elderly grandmother, who was left alone unattended at home after his arrest,” said Shankar Devali.
Senior citizen from Melauli, Ram Melekar requested Goans outside Sattari to also come forward to save their village, and also thanked those who participated in their protests and supported them.
Melauli locals are protesting inside a forest patch ever since a large police force was brought into Valpoi following the January 6 clash.