THE GOAN NETWORK
MARGAO
Government’s attempt to win the confidence of Salcete's coastal villagers along with Cansaulim, Chicalim and Sancoale on the proposal by cell phone companies to erect and install as many as 41 new mobile towers ahead of the BRICS summit almost hit a block on Sunday.
The gram sabha of Cavelossim village, which will play host to the BRICS summit has said no to new mobile towers in the village, with gram sabha members asserting that the village has a fairly good mobile connectivity and hence does not require the additional five towers.
A couple of coastal villages, including Carmona and Orlim, while saying no to the towers in residential areas, however, accorded its approval for temporary mobile towers mounted on trucks for a specific period during the course of the BRICS summit. Orlim Sarpanch Gaundencio Luis and his Carmona counterpart Sandra D’Costa said the gram sabhas have only favoured temporary towers mounted on trucks only during the BRICS summit.
Meanwhile, the gram sabhas of Cansaulim-Arossim-Cuelim and Chicalim rejected the proposal for allowing the setting up of towers while Sancoale gave a green signal.
Of the 11 Salcete village panchayats, the gram sabhas of Velim and Navelim had to be adjourned for want of officials of the Department of Telecommunications. Inquiries only revealed that the DoT officials were pre-occupied with the gram sabhas of Assolna and Varca respectively.
At the Majorda gram sabha, the DoT officials explained to the people concerns over radiation and health hazards, but the gram sabha members, however, asked the officials to submit in writing before they take a call on the request for the mobile towers.
The gram sabha of Colva Panchayat did not take any decision since only a few members turned up for the meeting. Sarpanch Menino Fernandes told The Goan that he would soon call a fresh meeting to elicit the opinion of the members based on the explanation given by the DoT and other experts.
Uproar marked the gram sabha of Betalbatim village as members demanded adjournment of the meeting without transacting any business protesting the convening of meeting at short notice. While DoT officials sought permission to hold their power point presentation, the gram sabha members were not ready for the discussion, prompting Sarpanch Maria Pereira to adjourn the gram sabha. The Sarpanch told The Goan that she has not fixed any date to hold the adjourned gram sabha.
Benaulim village, which will play host to nine out of the 41 mobile towers in the coastal belt, also did not taken any decision. Sarpanch Remy Fernandes told the media that he would call for a fresh to seek opinion of the members based on the power point presentation made by experts.
The Sancoale gram sabha passed off peacefully with the villagers clearing their doubts over fears of radiation. Stating that fears of residents pertaining to high radiation levels should be addressed, Sarpanch Ramakant Borkar suggested to make it mandatory for every tower to have readings of radiation levels on the tower itself.
The Chicalim extraordinary gram sabha unanimously rejected the proposal for the installation of six mobile phone towers in its jurisdiction.
