Parsekar denies lathicharge on fishermen; AAP demands probe

Goa Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar has denied lathicharge on fishermen agitating against use of LED lights by fishing trawlers, even as the Goa unit of AAP demanded a judicial inquiry into the incident.
Yesterday, around 25 fishermen were detained after police allegedly canecharged protesters who had gathered outside the state Fisheries department here.
The fishermen are demanding a ban on use of LED lights by trawlers and have anchored their boats and canoes blocking river Mandovi and Sal channels, in protest since a couple of days.
The Goa government has already issued a notification banning LED lights but unsatisfied fishermen continued their stir and took to streets of Panaji inviting police action.

"It was not lathicharge. Since protestors were blocking the road for long time, police tried to disperse them," Parsekar said reacting to media reports that Superintendent of Police (North) Karthik Kashyap ordered lathicharge without mandatory approval of Sub Divisional Magistrate.
However, AAP has demanded a magisterial inquiry into the attack on the fishermen community members.

"The state BJP government is forcibly trying to crush the agitation by fishermen community. There should be judicial inquiry into the entire incident," AAP national secretary Pankaj Gupta said.
Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) has also condemned the attack on fishermen.
"We strongly condemn violence used by BJP government on Goan traditional fishermen who have been demanding a solution to the problems affecting them since a long time," GPCC President Luizinho Faleiro said.

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The fishermen accused Parsekar of "walking out" of their meeting held at Secretariat here to work out a solution on the issue.
"The Chief Minister did not even spare five minutes for us. He walked out of the meeting without committing anything. He just asked us to convey our demands to Fisheries Minister (Avertano Furtado)," saidOlancio Simoes, Joint General Secretary, 'Goencho Ramponkarancho Ekvott' (Unity of Goan Fishermen).
Simoes said the fishermen have demanded a judicial probe into yesterday's lathicharge within 24 hours, and threatened to take to streets if government fails to oblige.
"We have given a deadline of 24 hours for the state government to institute a judicial inquiry into lathicharge. If they fail to do so we will be forced to take to the streets again," he said.

Simoes further said the fishermen have demanded immediate suspension of the superintendent of police (North) Karthik Kashyap for ordering lathicharge without waiting for the mandatory orders from Sub Divisional Magistrate.
State marine police last night seized 35 canoes which were anchored in Mandovi river for creating hurdle to the navigation.
The protest by fishermen affected operations of the offshore Casinos for two days, which were resumed late last night after canoes were seized by the police.