CURCHOREM: Residents of Curchorem and surrounding areas organised a rally on Saturday as a part of a protest against the government’s failure to create mining infrastructure, including a bypass road.
The rally started at Tilamol, proceeded through Quepem and Ambaulim, and culminated at the Curchorem KTC bus stand with a public meeting.
Speaking at the meeting, Mission Bypass convenor Pradip Kakodkar informed that the group’s core committee had decided to continue their agitation till their demands were met.
“We also met the truck owners’ association to clear their apprehensions,” Kakodkar said, and demanded that the ore transport contract should be between mine owners and truck owners directly, instead of with a third party or middleman.
Former Curchorem MLA Domnick Fernandes said that it was a people’s movement and urged the public to join and support them in large numbers till the demands were met.
“Everyone, including school children, teachers, office-goers are suffering from this menace; they failed to reach their destination on time due to blocking of roads by mining trucks, sometimes for hours,” said Manohar Naik, former councillor of the Curchorem-Cacora Municipal Council.
Earlier, Mission Bypass members distributed leaflets with the message that the common man had suffered a lot during the mining boom, but it was still not over; thousands of people had lost their loved ones due to reckless mining transportation, which left countless disabled, and that the greed of few was taking lives of many.
The problems faced by the people due to the blockades were also highlighted in the leaflets. They included: shifting of critical patients to the hospital had become a nightmare, babies were being delivered on blocked roads in emergencies, marriages were delayed, and people could not reach their destination on time.
