VASCO
Tension prevailed at Chicalim on Tuesday afternoon when a group of villagers stopped the installation of a mobile tower inside the premises of a school in the village.
According to reports, the incident took place when a mobile tower company went to the government primary school at Chicalim and began drilling work to install the tower.
Noticing the work in progress, a group of locals gathered at the site and asked the workers to stop the work. Anticipating trouble, the workers stopped the work and left the site.
In the evening, the Chicalim Villagers Action Committee convened a meeting with villagers, which included Chicalim acting sarpanch Kamlaprasad Yadav and other panchas to take stock of developments.
Yadav told the gathering that while BRICS is good for Goa, installing mobile towers in the school premises is unacceptable and could create problems to students. Locals later resolved to conduct a peaceful agitation in Chicalim, in case work is resumed to install the mobile tower.
AAP member Fr Michael Fernandes told reporters that the government was trying to bulldoze its way on the people.
Yadav later informed the media that the panchayat had issued a stop work order to the tower.
When asked to justify the panchayat's decision to issue the order when the government had directed mobile companies to install mobile towers in villages without seeking permission from panchayats, Yadav said: “We are not opposed to mobile towers. But there are court orders that mobile towers cannot be installed within 200 metres from schools and hospitals. Hence, the panchayat issued the order to stop the installation of the tower in the premises of the school. If towers are erected away from school premises which do not create any hurdles, people will not have a problem.”
