The panchayat secretary read out the communiqué send by the Director of Panchayat directing the local body to issue NOC to Indus company to erect mobile tower in Navelim for BRICS.
Responding to the direction, Eleuterio A Carneiro, a villager, pointed out that Navelim is separated by River Sal on the west and does not come under the purview of BRICS which will be held in the coastal area.
Contending that Navelim does not require mobile towers as the existing ones are sufficient to meet the requirements of the area, Carneiro justified his contention with the help of a map showing the locations of mobile towers that are already in operation and the signal distance covered between them.
Following this, the gram sabha refused to issue NOC for new towers under the pretext of BRICS.
Anthony Alvares said, “Whichever company it may be, let them apply for NOC to the panchayat for construction of towers and we will decide whether to issue NOC or not at the gram sabha,”
“Neither the chief minister nor the Director of Panchayat can decide with ward is in need of a tower,” he said and asked the chief minister what type of a weapon he would use against the villagers opposing mobile towers in their locality.
“Why Prime Minister Narenda Modi is promoting Reliance Jio and not BSNL?” he questioned.
The representatives of Indus Mobile, present at the gram sabha, said that the government has given them the contract to provide the mobile tower infrastructure in view of BRICS. But they failed to produce the notification or tender from government in support of their claim.
