*** FYI*** December 29, 2005
To, The Editor, Gomantak Times Gomantak Bhavan, St. Inez- Panjim. Sir, Subject: Press Statement Re: Saleli-Sattari Tragedy for kind favour of Publication. The Goa Su-Raj party is hardly shocked at the happenings in Saleli-Sattari, where young Prithviraj Krishnarao Rane has been brutally murdered by the villagers. This was seen by the Party as coming, when the Governmental irresponsibility has made the common people most insensitive and intolerant. Among the vociferous complains of the villagers in context with these happenings are those that the Government Authorities have been giving their complains a go by for far too long, about the dust pollution caused, about their fields being silted out, to take up sides with the landlords and mine owners who have been perennially insensitive to their plight. The Goa Su-Raj Party hopes that the Goa Police learns a lesson from this incident when it has seen thirty odd of its personnel, some of them senior most in rank, being laid out in hospital beds for their inconsiderate brutality unleashed on the villagers, especially the women folk. The Goa Su-Raj Party does, in no way condone either the murder of young Prithviraj nor the violence on the police force, but sees this as a sign of erosion of people's faith in the Government Administration and hopes that the real culprits who took law into their own hands are identified and punished. The Goa Su-Raj Party warns the Goa Government not to play with the sentiments of the people of Goa who have elected it, more so, with its callous, inconsiderate and insensitive attitude such as is displayed by the passing of the Town & Country Planning Ordinance and the bull-dozing of the Regional Plan-2011, lest some such thing on the lines of the Saleli incident takes place in Calapur/Santa Cruz, where the Government is allowing Goa's ecological balance to be disrupted without giving heed to the warnings given by concerned citizens. The Goa Su-Raj Party while extending its condolences to the bereaved family of Prithviraj Rane wishes the injured police personnel a speedy recovery. Thanking you, Yours Faithfully, for Goa Su-Raj Party Sd/- Floriano C. Lobo General Secretary & Spokesperson. Note: This Statement appears in GT of 1/1/06 -The Weekender in its stinted form. Goanet Admin note: The delay in despatching this message (that arrived via a circuitous route) is regretted
