TEAM HERALD
teamheaald@herald-goa.com
MARGAO: Sao Jose de Areal villagers on Sunday have unanimously demanded a thorough probe into the bomb blast by central investigative agencies, even as the villagers called upon the health department to withdraw the NOCs issue for power and water connections to rooms housing the migrants.
At the Sunday gram sabha, members attended the meeting with placards highlighting the bomb blast in the village and the need to investigate the case into all possible angles and to unearth the source from where accused Paplu Malgund had procured the explosives. They demanded that investigation of the case be handed over to the CBI or the NIA to unearth all facts, including whether the accused had any connections with forest officials in carrying out his illegal poaching activities.
Gram sabha member Peter Viegas said the 50 bombs recovered from the rented premises were enough to blow up a train coach, while demanding a detailed probe into the incident.
“The police say the accused was using the bombs to kill wild boar. But, we want more details, including the source of the explosives and the sale of the bombs”, he demanded.
The illegal scrap yards also came in for discussions at the gram sabha, with villagers demanding their immediate closure. They also demanded the verification of the tenants employed in the Nessai Industrial Estate and the scrap yards.
With the village playing host close to 5000 tenants and migrants housed in unsanitary conditions in many cases, the villagers have demanded that the Health department withdraw the NOCs granted for power and water connection given to the rented rooms. They asked Sarpanch Julio Monteiro to immediately make a petition to the Health Minister and other authorities and crack a whip against illegal rooms and migrants.
The gram sabha also deliberated a length the delay in granting permission to the panchayat body by the office of Directorate of Panchayat to hold a camp on the schemes meant for the Scheduled Tribes. They condemned the delay by the panchayat authorities to grant the permission saying the delay has only denied information on the schemes to the ST population.
