PONDA: Responding to a call for a village bandh, business establishments in Usgao remained closed on Tuesday to show solidarity with a village shopkeeper who was allegedly manhandled by a group of migrants on Saturday.
Besides, in a show of unity and strength, the Usgao villagers staged a rally to protest against, what they allege as, antisocial activities being indulged in by some migrants residing in the village. The rally was attended by a large number of villagers and shopkeepers.
Later, the villagers held a public meeting to condemn the alleged manhandling of the shopkeeper by migrants. At the meeting, the villagers also demanded the immediate arrest of the migrants allegedly involved in manhandling the shopkeeper. The meeting also sternly warned the migrants, settled in Usgao, against indulging in antisocial activities.
Asserting that Goans are kind towards migrants and tolerant towards their culture, the villagers warned them against taking advantage of the kindness and tolerance of the locals to indulge in antisocial activities. Though Goans are a tolerant society, they would not tolerate any kind of antisocial activities, the meeting warned. The meeting threatened to evict from the village, those indulging in antisocial activities and disturbing the peace in Usgao.
However, the migrants are welcome to earn their livelihood peacefully in the village, the meeting said.
Prominent among those attended the meeting include Usgao Sarpanch Ramnath Dangui, Usgao Zilla Member Dyaneshwar Naik, Darbandora Sarpanch Vinayak Gawas, Sankorda Sarpanch Jeetendra Naik, Dharbandora Zilla Member Govind Sawanth, Satyavijay Naik, Panch Ramesh Naik and Vijay Gaonkar.
Addressing the public meeting, Sarpanch Ramnath Dangui urged the migrants to prevent members of their community from indulging in antisocial activities. He also asked the locals, who have rented out their rooms or houses, to fill up tenant verification forms.
Zilla Member Dyaneshwar Naik called for removing all the scrap-yards, which, he said, “is the root cause of antisocial and illegal activities” in the village.
The meeting decided to meet Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar and submit a memorandum listing out the problems created by antisocial elements in the village.
Usgao Sarpanch Ramnath Dangi, Usgao Zilla Panchayat Member Dyaneshwar Naik, Darbandora Sarpanch Vinayak Gawas, Sakorda Sarpanch Jeetendra Naik, Dharbandora Zilla Panchayat Member Govind Sawanth, Satyavijay Naik, Panchmbember Ramesh Naik, Vijay Gaonkar and large number of People participated in the rally that held in Tisk Usgao and Bazar area.
Addressing to Public Meeting Usgao Sarpanch Ramnath Dangi asked the migrant settled to stop those among them involved in antisocial activities. He asked the Usgao Locals to fill the verification forms of Tenants to whom rooms or houses are given on rent. Zilla Panchayat Member Dyaneshwar Naik appealed to remove all Scrapyards which is the root cause of anti social and illegal activities. It was also decided to met Chief Minister and to submit the memorandum on the problems created by antisocial people.It is learnt that large number of Migrant Settled in Usgao with contructing houses and some of residing in rental houses.
Unlike previous bandhs when people feared travel through the village, this time around the shutdown was peaceful, as the protesters neither harassed the travelling public nor obstructed the traffic. In fact, the villagers kept the essential facilities open for the benefit of the public. The schools, banks, pharmacies and clinics all remained open.
However, mining trucks were off the road in a show of support for the bandh.
