Team Herald
PONDA: Tense moments were witnessed in Mangueshi when verbal confrontation broke out between locals and ten bouncers employed by a landlord to ward off disturbance for developing his plot, which the villagers allege is illegal.
Noticing an “illegal” hill cutting in Mangueshi on Sunday, the villagers led by Veling-Priol-Cuncoliem Sarpanch Damodar Naik, Adv Varad Mardolkar and other panchas went to the site to stop the same. However, they were prevented from entering the plot by ten bouncers employed by the landlord.
This led to verbal confrontation between the bouncers and the villagers. The villagers told the bouncers that they were guarding an illegal activity, which they said, they would not tolerate; therefore, the villagers asked the bouncers to leave the village immediately.
Meanwhile, as villagers started gathering at the plot, Ponda police rushed to the site and took control of the situation.
The bouncers claimed that they were legally guarding the place as owner has a court order for developing his plot. However, when villagers read the papers in police presence they found no such order allowing development of the plot.
Sarpanch Damodar Naik told media that since last four months the villagers have been agitating against and opposing illegal development of a plot at Mangueshi.
Naik said that they have complained to various government authorities against hill cutting and asked them to protect the hills at Mangueshi “which recharge springs that supply water for agriculture and also a source of ground water.”
Previously, the villagers had led morchas to six government offices and had demolished a road developed on the plot, following which the owner had approached the court against 38 villagers with a prayer for restraining the villagers from interfering in his plot.
However, according to the villagers since the matter is sub-judice, the owner has no right to develop the plot by cutting the hill and destroying the environment.
Following a warning of serious consequences for guarding an illegal activity, the bouncers left the place.
