SANGUEM: The stalemate over the hiring of trucks owned by people from Sanguem town and its neighbouring villages at mines in operation at Rivona continues to remain unsolved even after a high level meeting held at the Sanguem Mamlatdar Office on Thursday.
At the joint meeting of the Sanguem and Rivona Truck Owners Association held at Sanguem, the Rivona truck owners agreed to allow truckers from Sanguem town and its neighbouring villages to ply at Rivona mines for the transportation of e-auctioned ore.
The decision to allow the truckers from Sanguem region at Rivona mines was taken after several rounds of deliberations and arguments by the members of the two associations.
However, the decision taken by the Rivona Truckers Association at the Sanguem meeting did not last for long and was changed overnight.
When the members of Sanguem association alongwith local MLA Prasad Gaonkar went to Rivona to provide the list of the trucks from Sanguem region to be plied at Rivona Mines, the Rivona association members flatly refused to entertain them.
Rivona Sarpanch Surya Naik told Herald that he has no hesitation whatsoever to employ the trucks from Sanguem town and its neighbouring villages at mines in Rivona. “My only concern is the development aspect of the Rivona village,” Naik said.
“The government should consider the demands put forth by the panchayat which includes the road widening, construction of mining bypass, pollution control measures and the provision of allotment of code numbers for trucks at taluka level,” he said and clarified that completion of these works was not a precondition for allowing Sanguem trucks to ply at Rivona mines.
“I have no objection for the plying of trucks from Sanguem at Rivona mines. The government should however seriously think of the development aspects of Rivona which is at the receiving end since the commencement of the mining activities in the village,” Naik added.
