Peace restored in Goa, hunger strike withdrawn

Sandesh Prabhudesai
8 April 2000  

Peace has been fully restored in Goa with Meta Strips company officials agreeing in writing to stop all the work at the factory and the 13-day hunger strike by the agitators being finally withdrawn today evening.

The peaceful tourist state had suddenly become tense since last week with villagers demanding scrapping of the allegedly pollutant plant blocking the national highway near Zuari bridge while stoning and even burning the state-owned public transport.

After remaining adamant initially, the Anti Meta Strips Action Committee as well as chief minister Francisco Sardinha finally sat down across the table to resolve the issue amicably. As a first step towards restoring normalcy, the government agreed to seal the factory gates while stopping the ongoing construction and production work 'until further orders'.

"The war is however not yet over. This is just a first step towards fulfilling the goal of scrapping of the project", said Nelson Fernandes, the AMCAC secretary. The victory has proved that the people are the masters and not one single industrialist, he added.

The agitators however are yet to react to Sardinha's proposal to constitute an experts committee to probe into the pollution angle of the factory that manufactures brass strips and foils. The committee would be headed by a retired judge with few experts of repute appointed by the government while giving representation to the AMCAC as well as the company.

The Rs 250 crore worth project, set up with a Spanish collaboration, is owned by Sushil Khaitan, son-in-law of Dr Sitaram Jindal of the Jindal Group of Industries. "We are open for any kind of probe into the pollution angle", says A V Parekh, president of the Meta Strips.

"The entire project is a façade to cover up an international conspiracy to dump first world waste into the third world countries", alleges Fernandes. The villagers around Sancoale, where the plant is located near the port town of Vasco, are demanding nothing less than scrapping of the project.

Meanwhile, a joint committee of both the sides headed by P S Reddy, the industries director, carried out the inventory of the machinery at the factory today morning and also agreed to allow maximum 25 persons insides at any given time including the security personnel and the maintenance staff.

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