Team Herald
BICHOLIM: The villagers from Mayem are up in arms against the movement of mining trucks in the village and have warned that they would take law into their hands if the authorities fail to come up with a solution.
Heavy traffic of mining trucks is passing through Mayem since last several days. Earlier, the farmers from Mayem and Poira had blocked the roads demanding compensation from the mining company. They had also complained about the heavy traffic through the narrow roads and danger to the commuters.
Mayem farmer and ex-sarpanch Sakharam Pedenkar said that day-by-day the situation is getting worse. “We are fighting against mining since last several years, but still our problems are not solved. We have approached the mamlatdar, the collector and we have also given several memorandums, complaints; and there are even many cases pending in the court. To add to this, now transportation of ore is done in large scale through Mayem village,” Pednekar said.
There are several problems faced by the people due to this transport, including pollution. Just recently there was an incident wherein a truck by mistake unloaded entire ore in the middle of road causing traffic jam. After the incident, the police asked the villagers to submit a memorandum to the deputy collector but the farmers claim that the deputy collector did not give any reply to the letter.
“We submitted the memo on May 27, with all our demands and were very hopeful that this issue would be resolved but till date there is no action being taken in this regard,” Pednekar said.
“We have demanded that all the problems related to mining be first resolved and only then transportation should be carried out. If our pleas are ignored; we will have to take law into our hands,” he warned.
