SANGUEM: A mining giant has made a 60-year-old woman homeless in Patem-Colomb, Rivona, after it demolished the structure which had been her dwelling house since birth.
Following a court order, the mining company demolished the house of Kesar Dayanand Gaonkar two days ago; since then, she and her son are living under a tree and are at the mercy of the elements and that too in deep interior of the village.
The property on which Gaonkar had her house was originally owned by one Gurudas Karangate, who, some ten years ago, sold the land to a mining company having large scale operations in the village.
Since buying the land, sources say, the mining company had been insisting on Gaonkar to vacate the premises and to that effect sent her notices. Subsequently, a civil suit was filed in the Sanguem court and after a gap of nearly ten years, the court passed an order directing Gaonkar to vacate the premises within a period of one month.
No sooner the 30-day period expired, the mining company armed with heavy machinery and the court order, razed down the old house rendering her homeless.
To make matters worse, the mining company also brought down the outhouse which Gaonkar was using at night to guard her paddy fields and other plantations located close by.
Claiming that the court ordered the demolition of only the residential house and not the outhouse, she asked, on what basis the mining company demolished the outhouse.
Gaonkar says that she cannot leave the place as her paddy fields and plantations will be destroyed by wild animals, if left unguarded.
Sanguem Mamlatdar Laxmikant Desai visited the site of the incident on Tuesday evening and appealed to woman to move to a safer place, but Gaonkar is in no mood to listen.
