BICHOLIM: Demanding that the transportation of e-auctioned iron ore through
Mayem’s narrow internal roads be stopped as per the order of the High Court of
Bombay at Goa, the villagers on Saturday blocked the road for the second time
within this week as the Bicholim police detained five persons.
The protestors blocked ore transportation
for almost an hour which later resumed as per the order of Bicholim Deputy
Collector Rohan Kaskar but under police protection.
The
protestors said that they were not against the transportation but the ore laden
trucks should take alternative routes as plying of heavy vehicles through
internal roads was affecting regular traffic flow, besides causing dust
pollution.
The moment of trucks in the residential
areas is making the narrow Poira to Bicholim road prone to accidents. The
government is ignoring the High Court directives delivered in 2022, they said.
The protestors demanded that the ore be
transported by barges and not by trucks since the transportation for ore by
trucks was only for a short distance within the mines at Shirgao and not
through the residential area, risking the lives of villagers.
Santosh Sawant, Ajit Sawant, Naguesh
Naik, Babuso Karbotkar and Shriram Salgaonkar, who led the villagers, were
detained by the police.
Ore transportation in Mayem had resumed
since January 8, but the villagers had tried to block the same. The agitated
villagers had also submitted a representation to the Bicholim Deputy Collector
requesting him not to allow iron ore transportation through village internal
roads.
The High Court by an interim stay had
halted ore transportation through villages due to lack of monitoring of air
quality by the Goa State Pollution Control Board.
The villagers had also prayed to stop
illegal ore transportation from a mining dump through the internal village
roads.