BICHOLIM: Shirgao villagers on Monday stopped ore transportation in the village demanding that the company settle their pending water bills.
It is pertinent to note that most wells in Shirgao have run dry due to mining and the residents are totally dependent upon the tap water supplied by PWD. For several years the water bills were paid by the mining company. However, in the last two years, the company stopped paying the bills stating that there is no work going on in the mines.
Today, when the residents saw that trucks were transporting ore from Shirgao mines, they got furious and seized this opportunity to fulfil their pending demand. The villagers, especially the women stopped the trucks from transporting ore.
“We demand with the mining company to first settle and pay the pending water bills and then transport the auctioned ore,” Shirgao Deputy Sarpanch Vijaya Mandrekar demanded.
The villagers informed that for the last two years, no water bill has been paid by the company and thus they are now getting notices from the PWD that their water connections would be disconnected.
Following the commotion, a special meeting of all the stakeholders was held in the Deputy Collector’s office wherein the residents strongly demanded that the company officials pay the water bills immediately. Speaking to media persons, Deputy Collector Sachin Desai informed that after discussion they have resolved that the transportation would continue from Tuesday and as of now the PWD would not disconnect any water connection in the village.
