Protestors lathi-charged, stones pelted as agitation against Goa IIT campus heats up

Even as police lathi-charged villagers protesting the demarcation of land for an IIT campus at Melaulim village in North Goa, the Opposition has warned Chief Minister Pramod Sawant against the harsh police action against "innocent villagers".

Sawant has however said that the process of formal demarcation would continue and that he would engage in a dialogue with the villagers only after the situation calms down.

"The extremely brutal lathi-charge and use of tear gas on the villagers of Melaulim reflects the dictatorship attitude of the BJP-led coalition government. I strongly condemn the high-handedness of the police force and other government authorities. The government will never succeed in forcing any project against people's wishes," Leader of Opposition Digambar Kamat said.

"This government should simply stop this dadagiri. Sawant should not test the patience of these villagers," Kamat also said.

Goa Forward, an Opposition party, has also demanded the termination of the police inspector in-charge of the Valpoi police station for the "brutal assault on the villagers".

Earlier on Wednesday, police lathi-charged villagers, who were blocking access roads to the village in order to prevent a team of government land surveyors from demarcating the area in which the IIT campus is expected to be set up. In retaliation, villagers pelted stones on police personnel and the team of government officials, triggering chaos.

Till late on Wednesday night, hundreds of villagers gathered outside the Valpoi police station demanding the sacking of police inspector Sagar Ekoskar for assaulting villagers.

Reacting to the development Chief Minister Pramod Sawant has said that the demarcation process would continue, despite the protests.

"The demarcation is going on. It will continue. The people have to calm down. We have told them we are willing to discuss," Sawant said.

For the last few months villagers from Melaulim in the Sattari sub district have been protesting hasty land acquisition procedures put in place by the Goa government to acquire 10 lakh square km land for setting up of the IIT campus. The villagers claim that they are being cheated out of their land holdings by using faulty acquisition processes.