TUESDAY, MAY 07, 2024
QUEPEM, APRIL 5
Curchorem MLA Shyam Satardekar and Quepem MLA Babu Kavlekar have assured residents of Quepem and Curchorem that mining traffic plying via Quepem and Curchorem will remain off the road till April 10.
They were addressing the people gathered during the rasta roko agitation at Tilamoll-Quepem on Monday.
It may be recalled that as per the notification issued by South Collector G P Naik on March 31, the mining trucks were kept off the road till April 4. However, residents of Quepem and Curchorem staged a rasta roko agitation on Monday at 9 am.
Hundreds of people had gathered at the accident site, where a resident of Tilamol was crushed to death under a mining truck last week. A heavily armed police force was present at the site, while Deputy Collector Agnelo Fernandes, Mamlatdar Sudin Natu and senior police officials from Quepem, Curchorem and Sanguem were also stationed at the site.
At about 9.45 am, Opposition Leader Manohar Parrikar arrived to extend support to the locals on the sensitive issue taken by them.
When Curchorem MLA Satardekar arrived at the spot, people confronted him and sought to know why he did not arrive at the accident site on the day of accident.
Satardekar then assured the people that he was with them and would support the movement against mining trucks, as he himself has witnessed the hardship faced by the people.
Incidentally, while Parrikar was addressing the gathering, he said he would speak to Quepem MLA Kavlekar on the issue.
When people came to know that Kavlekar was also present in the gathering, people demanded that he should come forward and clear his stand on the issue.
Quepem MLA Kavlekar also assured the people that he was with them and would try his best to get the bypass constructed as soon as possible.
In his speech, Parrikar requested the mining transport contractors to keep their trucks off the road till April 10, as SSC exams will get over and by that time some meaningful decision will be taken and their further course of action will be discussed within that period.
Parrikar promised to resolve the issue by taking into confidence the local MLAs and prominent citizens.
“If the government is willing, then the issue can be solved in no time. However, this is not happening, as the government is involved in the mining activity,” claimed Parrikar.
He praised the people, as they have demonstrated peacefully without any violence and urged them not to take law in their hands as he will find some solution to the issue by April 10.
Meanwhile, in a move to counter the villagers of Quepem, the truck drivers headed by contractor Subhash Dessai convened a meeting in Quepem Bazar, where the mining contractors and truck owners expressed determination to resume ore transportation from April 7.
