Traffic on the Belagavi-Goa road via Chorla was disrupted for about an hour, after villagers from Man village staged a Rasta Roko at Jamboti on Thursday morning to protest against the bad road leading to the village and the dilapidated Belagavi-Goa road via Chorla.
Villagers from Jamboti, Kankumbi and neighbouring villages also joined the Rasta Roko. The Rasta Roko was called off after the intervention of forest and revenue officials, who took the protesting villagers to Man village, where a meeting was convened.
Unhappy over the fact that the village does not have a proper approach road for generations, a large number of people gathered at the Jamboti Circle at around 11 am blocking the entire road. A huge traffic jam was witnessed for about an hour.
However, Khanapur Tehshildar Praveenkumar Jain and CPI Suresh Shinge along with forest officials visited the spot and pacified the protestors.
The protestors were later taken to Man village about 4 kms off the Karnataka excise check post, where a meeting was held with officials and local leaders.
According to forest officials, forest clearance cannot be given to any new road or widening of the road. “However, the matter would be taken up with higher authorities and would be resolved so that the villagers would get a proper approach road and the matter of Chorla road repairs would be also taken up,” Tehshildar Jain assured.
The villagers dispersed after giving an ultimatum to the authorities. No untoward incident was reported.
