A year and half ago, two men from two tribal villages died because they led a violent agitation to fight for tribal rights. There were clear signs they were done to death. A year, a Commission and two Governments later, the Goan Tribals still can’t find their voices forget demand justice. The Goan visits the land where parivartan (change) still eludes the lesser Goenkars
Deepa does not raise her head. She barely utters a word.Sitting amongst dozens of women aging and young alike who guard her from anyunwanted inquest, the twenty something mother of two only answers, “We got thecompensation but not justice. We don’t know of the status of investigation. Andanyways we don’t expect justice from our lethargic and corrupt police.” Deepawas still pregnant with her son Daksh when on that fateful afternoon of May 25,2011 her husband Dilip Velip was burnt to death in the Balli riots. The chirpyDeepa who would sing to her daughter Divya tales of jungle heroes and friendlyanimals lost her voice ever since.
Morpilla’s Velip hamlet is a tiny settlement of windingstairs and narrow corridors where people have tiny cubicles for rooms and scantclothing for covering themselves. They switch off their daily miseries andswitch on two television sets -shared by forty homes- for their daily dose offantasy. Balli riot martyr Dilip Velip’s house is the last one. The night ofMay 24, 2011 was no fantasy. It was a nightmare.
A peon at the Directorate of Health Services in Vasco, 26year old Dilip left behind his pregnant wife, daughter Divya and widow motherlate on May 24 night to pick up his friend Mangesh Gaonkar at Gaondongri inPoinguinim, 40 kms away. From there they headed to Quepem to meet former MLAand UTAA President Prakash Velip Sr and camped at Balli at night to prepare forthe agitation for tribal. On May 25, 2011 Mangesh Gaonkar and Dilip Velipjoined 10,000 other United Tribal Associations Alliance (UTAA) activists atBalli to fight for better rights, recognition, reservations and schemes forlocals. After months of meticulous planning and plotting for the massagitations little did the duo know that they would never go home and becomemartyrs for a cause. But their martyrdom has still not ensured justice.
Dilip’s widowed mother is still speechless from the shock,sobs silently and points at Deepa when we ask for answers. DIlip’s mothercollects firewood, keeps busy cooking and tries searching for her son in hergrandchildren while Deepa, who works at the Water Resources Department atQuepem, struggles to make time for three year old Divya and raise 1-year oldDaksh. The knockdown house is renovated and painted from the Rs 4 lakhcompensation. The government forgot them thereafter. His mother has beenforgotten by the Social Welfare Department which has excluded her from theirDatanand Social Security Scheme while thousands of fake recipients reapbenefits. The Tribal Welfare Commission setup post Balli riots is still todiscover Morpilla.
GAONDONGRI
On Sunday last, Mangesh would have turned 29. A part time,contract employee at Goa Medical College who hailed from the poor village ofGaondongri, Mangesh was pursuing his graduation through distance education. Onthat fateful afternoon, he was all charged up sharing space with the triballeadership bigwigs, what he got was a macabre death, hacked him to death beforesetting he was on fire. The walls of Adarsh Society, a cooperative set upmainly for tribals was the theatre of their deaths.
But his father Nagesh holds a proud candle in the wind. ForNagesh, his son is a martyr for the ST Gaonkar and Velip community and he hasspent the entire compensation of Rs 4 lakhs given by the government forMangesh’s death to build a memorial for his son. This even as the sky peeps inthrough the crumbling roof and the family taking turns to sleep on a fewuncovered cots. He and his wife Laxmialways wanted their children to have a better life. Two daughters married offto defence personnel from neighbouring villages, a third ironically studyingB.Ed for a community where subsistence and not education is important.Mangesh’s brother Raju got a job in the PWD as compensation, He operates fromCancona where he is based.
The compensation and donations have long dried up. Mangesh’sfamily just like DIlip’s too have missed Goa Government’s scheme like DSS andGriha Adhar. The leaders have long stopped coming back. As they continue to paythe loans that they had borrowed for their dead son’s education, the governmenthas long moved on. But the martyr’s father has risen. Nagesh has boughtelectric juicers to sell to the neighbors to improve productivity in the cashewseason. The spirit of the sons of Morpilla-Goabongri still lives on throughtheir beloved who miss their presence but still feel their fire.
