VILLAGERS of Nasilai in Tailevu will only open the track from Robin Narayan's home to the main road if he's willing to discuss his problems with the villagers.
On Monday, this newspaper published a story of the suffering encountered by the Narayan children as a result of the rift between their father and the villagers of Nasilai.
However, yesterday, Nasilai village headman Savenaca Delai told The Fiji Times the only reason the track was closed to the Narayan family was because he had reported several cases of robbery against some men of Nasilai to the police.
Mr Delai said he had asked Mr Narayan several times not to report to the police but instead resolve the problem with the villagers.
He said in a village community like in Nasilai, everyone was related and when incidents occurred, they should be resolved at the community level.
He said he expected Mr Narayan to inform him of the incidents before going to the police but since he reported the matter to the police, the village also decided at a meeting last December to close the track to the family.
He said the villagers were waiting for Mr Narayan to make the move to apologise to them before they could reopen the track. Mr Narayan had complained of his crop of watermelons, coconuts and eggplants being stolen.
Mr Narayan, who markets his produce said the villagers had also trespassed on his land to catch mud crabs.
Mr Delai said as far as the villagers were concerned, Mr Narayan did not have any right to stop them from catching crabs.
Divisional police commander eastern Senior Superintendent Isei Vueti said the matter had been forwarded to the Commissioner Central's office.
Yesterday, Commissioner Central Lieutenant-Colonel Laisenia Tuitubou said they would only get involved in the construction of a new road which would be included in the second quarter of their projects.
He said the matter should be resolved by the two parties.