PONDA: Acting on the complaint filed by Bhoma residents against government officials under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act 1989, Chairperson of the Goa Commission for SC/ST Deepak Karmalkar has directed the Executive Engineer Works Division XV (NH) PWD, Ponda to submit layout plan of NH expansion and detailed report of Banastarim to Kundaim road within 15 days.
In the letter, Karmalkar has also directed the Executive Engineer Works Division XV (NH) PWD, Ponda to also furnish details of the number of actual structures at the sites with names of occupant/possession and submit the same to the Goa Commission for SC/ST office within a fortnight.
It may be recalled that the Bhoma villagers had filed cases under Section 3 of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act 1989 against Ponda Mamlatdar Sangeeta Birje, Ponda DySP Ashish Shirodkar, PWD officer Hemant Desai, sarpanch Damodar Naik, panch member Sunil Bhomkar and staff over the December 20 incident at Bhoma wherein the villagers had protested against valuation survey for trees.
Meanwhile, in response to police cases filed against them in connection with the December 20 protest, around 22 Bhoma locals along with their lawyer on Monday attended the hearing at Deputy Collector’s office and the next hearing is scheduled on February 18.
The advocate representing Bhoma residents said, “It is the constitutional right of citizens to protest peacefully. The court will decide whether it is legal or illegal. Bhoma residents had not damaged any property during their protest. I am studying the case and will file a reply soon.”
