‘Cases filed against those hit by mining to be withdrawn’

PANAJI: Town and country planning minister Vijai Sardesai on Friday assured mining dependants of withdrawing cases filed against 72 of its members for breach of peace during the protest morcha held on March 21, 2018.
Panaji police had filed a 350-page chargesheet against the accused based on the statements of 108 witnesses and monitoring the video footage.
“I will take up the matter with government and the cases will be withdrawn accordingly,” Sardesai assured the mining dependents in Panaji.The TCP minister said that he has given the assurance in his personnel capacity.
A crowd of 3,000-odd mining dependents had brought the entire city to a standstill by blocking the national highway stretches along the Mandovi bridges for almost four hours defying the prohibitory orders. Thousands of commuters were left stranded on either end of the bridges as the entry and exit points were blocked.
It took a violent turn as the crowd swelled and some started pelting stones and damaging public property. The police had to resort to lathi-charge to disperse the mob. In the commotion, seven persons were injured, including five policemen.
Police had arrested 13 persons for blocking the highway and damaging public property including five state transport buses, a fire brigade vehicle and a police van.
The accused were later summoned by the investigation authorities. Except 13 accused, other managed to get anticipatory bails.
The protesters had initially gathered at the KTC bus stand. A strong posse of over 1,000-policemen was keeping a watch on it.
The agitators instead of moving to their designated protest areas of Azad Maidan, marched towards the Mandovi bridges and blocked both.
The chargesheet has been filed under various Sections of the Indian Penal Code, Section 8 of the National Highways Act 1956 and Sec 3 of the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act (PDPP) Act.