Protesters taking part in the torch rally on Thursday evening.
PERNEM
The Tuem Hospital Action Committee staged a large torch protest rally on Thursday evening, to demand that new Tuem hospital complex be upgraded into a fully functional Link Hospital of the GMC hospital.
The protesters have threatened to intensify their agitation and even block the highway if the State government shifts the Community Health Centre (CHC) to the new hospital building on January 30 instead of linking the Tuem Hospital to the GMC hospital at Bambolim.
Tuem Sarpanch Anita Salgaonkar lit a torch to begin the torch protest rally at the Pernem ITI, with the participation of hundreds of people from all walks of life and from different parts of Pernem taluka. Present and former sarpanchas, present and former panchas, leaders from different parties and social activists also took part in the protest rally.
Chanting slogans against the government, the protesters warned that they would not allow the government to shift the CHC to the Tuem hospital complex.
The protest culminated outside the new hospital complex, where speakers later addressed the protesters.
Advocate Mahesh Rane said the movement had started from Arambol and has spread across Pernem
“The government should not test the tolerance of the people from Pernem,” warned Adv. Rane.
Former Sarpanch Nilesh Kandolkar said the people of Pernem have been forced to visit the GMC hospitals for medical treatment.
“The Tuem hospital complex has been built for the purpose of linking it to the GMC hospital,’ he said.
