Team Herald

BICHOLIM: The Bicholim Police on Wednesday arrested eight villagers of Mayem including sarpanch Seema Arondekar for allegedly blocking the road and obstructing ore laden trucks.

The villagers were protesting the dust pollution caused due to transportation of auctioned iron ore and bad condition of the village roads. The villagers complained that the roads have been dug for laying cables and that mining truck drivers were driving their vehicles in a rash and reckless manner endangering their lives and blocked the transportation from Poira mines.

On receiving information, Bicholim Deputy Collector Deepak Vaigankar and the Bicholim Police rushed to the site and pacified the agitated villagers. After they refused to clear the road, the police arrested them. Among those arrested was also a press photographer, who alleged that he was first detained while clicking photographs in the public and later arrested along with other villagers.

All the arrested villagers were later produced before the Bicholim Deputy Collector, who released them on bail.