Team Herald
PONDA: North Goa Truck Owners’ Association (NGTOA) president Mahesh Gawas resigned from the post, citing his inability to deal with the allegations levelled against him by “some persons with vindictive mindsets”, who are tarnishing his image for political and financial gain. He refuted the allegations and termed them as “totally false”.
Gawas submitted his resignation to NGTOA secretary Prakash Gawas on Monday. When asked if he will withdraw his resignation if it is rejected at the association’s general body meeting on October 5, he said he would continue, but would remain a member of NGTOA.
At a press conference, Gawas expressed surprise that after five months of accepting the rates decided by Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar for e-auctioned ore transportation, there was a sudden strike and bandh called by the All Goa Truck Owners’ Association (AGTOA) for a hike.
He challenged AGTOA president Nilkant Gawas to state what the latter had done for the welfare of truck owners or for the commencement of mining in the State. He also challenged Nilkant to an open debate on his contribution to the welfare of truck owners.
On his own contributions, he said he would let the people decide whether or not he had contributed to the welfare of truckers and the mining industries.
Gawas also alleged that Sankhali MLA Dr Pramod Sawant, in April 2014, had denied the NGTOA an appointment with Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar to discuss the One Time Settlement (OTS) scheme, as he did not want Sawant to appear for the meeting.
Gawas said that he became NGTOA president in 2008, and since then, he had struggled a lot for the welfare of truck owners.
He said that he had opposed the government’s decision to implement speed limiters and high security number plates, and when the Goa government suspended mining operations in September 2012, followed by the Supreme Court’s blanket ban on mining, NGTOA and its South Goa counterpart launched a massive struggle to restart mining operations as the livelihood of all truck operators was at stake.
He said that they had also become part of the Goa Mining Peoples Front and fought for two-and-a-half years, during which they launched massive agitations, public rallies and dharnas and met then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, former Union Minister Jayanthi Natrajan, and Union Ministers Arun Jaitley and Rajnath Singh to restart mining operations to protect the livelihood and business of mining truck operators. His association had also filed a petition in the SC.
