MARGAO: Villagers of fourth ward of Colva on Wednesday get irked over the installation work of a mobile tower, despite a Stop Work order issued by the Colva village panchayat. The villagers demanded with the panchayat to stop work immediately with the help of police protection and to shift the tower away from crowded residential area.
In the evening nearly 100 villagers gathered at the site and protested against the ongoing installation work. Local panch member Domingo Rodrigues also joined the protest.
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The villagers claimed that a mobile tower already exists in the nearby area and there is no need for another one. Few argued that the tower would create health issues to the people living neaby.
Local MLA Churchill Alemao too had issued a letter addressed to the mobile tower company to stop the work upon objections from the villagers.
Speaking to the media, Savio Rodrigues said, “There is a mobile tower just two hundred metres away from the new site. We all are getting good signals, and hence we don’t understand the need for another tower over here,” said Rodrigues.
He also referred to the World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines that mention the effects of RF signals.
Ramdas Lotlikar, another senior citizen joined the chorus and said, “This is a crowded residential area and such a huge mobile tower cannot be tolerated over her. This is a big crime. This will affect our environment. Secondly, this road is going to be widened in the coming days and how come the authorities gave the mobile company permission to install the mobile tower?”
Salvador Vaz said that they had identified a new land to erect the tower which was a non-residential area but authority failed to hear their suggestions and grievances.
Panch Domingos clarified that the panchayat has already issued the Stop Work order and hence the concerned party needs to stop the work immediately.
The owner of the land, where the mobile tower is being erected, Xisto Rodrigues said that the concerned company has got all the required permissions and as per the new amendment bill there is no need of panchayat permission to erect the mobile tower.
