Shaikh in a memorandum to the Chimbel Sarpanch Chandrakant Kankonkar has said that there were no Pakistanis and Bangladeshis residing in the Indiranagar locality, one of the biggest slums in Goa, and has instead demanded that the Crime Branch of the state police probe Tukaram Kankonkar, the person who levelled the allegations against the residents of the slum during the gram sabha held last Sunday.
"We were given land by the government in 1971 and it is over 50 years that we are residing in the said land which is in our possession. The third generation of those who were given the land are in its possession as a citizens of India. We all possess relevant Indian citizenship documents and there is no possibility of any other citizen being present in the said locality by any means," Shaikh said in his memorandum to the sarpanch.
The BJP state Minority Morcha Vice President also said that it was unfair that such allegations were levelled against the residents of Indiranagar.
"It is unfair to tag people as Pakistanis and Bangladeshis without evidence. The police should now probe the person who made the allegations in order to get to the bottom of the matter," Shaikh said.
Speaking to , Kankonkar said that he was in receipt of the memorandum submitted by the BJP official. "The panchayat will be meeting on Wednesday to decide on the memorandum submitted by Shaikh. A decision will be taken subsequently," Kankonkar said.
Originally envisioned as a housing hub for the below poverty line population, Indiranagar located in the Chimbel village panchayat jurisdiction has grown into a cluster of nearly 2,000 houses, most of which have been identified as "illegal" by the state authorities.
( With inputs from IANS )