Goa electric engineers defer rally, to continue pen-down strike

Panaji, July 19 ( UNI) The 400-odd agitating engineers of the Goa electricity department deferred holding a massive rally today, following an assurance by Power Minister Digambar Kamat, but decided to continue their ongoing ''pen-down strike''.

They launched the pen-down agitation yesterday.

They were agitating against Agriculture Minister Fransico Xavier Pacheco, who allegedly abused and slapped junior engineer Kapil Natekar at the former's house in South Goa recently.

The leader of the Engineers Forum, Bharat Niglye, said the decision was taken in a meeting held earlier this morning and on the advice by Mr Kamat. They were demanding removal of the Minister from the Cabinet or to initiaite a criminal action against him.

''The agitation will continue till the government takes suitable action against the Minister who is facing a police probe following a complaint lodged by the engineer,'' Mr Niglye said.

Earlier, the Minister had slapped a legal notice on the engineer threatening to initiate civil/criminal defamation proceedings if Mr Natekar did not apologise. Mr Xavier said he called tne engineer to his house only to ''reprimand him'' following complaints of frequent power failure in his constituency.

The United Goans Democratic Party (UGDP) had, in a statement, demanded ouster of the Minister from the Cabinet for his misconduct.

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