Mapusa
Former Tivim MLA Kiran Kandolkar said the illegal scrapyards had become a big nuisance in the Colvale village and blamed Fisheries Minister and local MLA Nilkant Halankar for patronising the scrapyard owners.
Kandolkar also said he had tried to shut down the business of the illegal scrapyards when he was the MLA of the constituency but could do very little as the Colvale panchayat was in the hands of Halarnkar.
“The scrapyards are there for the last 25 to 30 years from the time Nilkant Halarnkar has been the sarpanch of Colvale village. The beautiful village of Colvale has got a bad name because of these illegal scrapyards,” Kandolkar alleged.
A major fire engulfed one of the many scrapyards dotting the village suburbs claiming the life of one person who was working in the scrapyard. At least four scrapyards were destroyed in that major fire incident.
Soon after the fire incident, the Deputy Collector of Bardez issued show-cause notices to 17 scrapyards in the village asking the owners to produce ownership documents and permission to operate from various authorities.
The former Tivim MLA informed that steps were initiated to demolish the illegal scrapyards when he was the MLA.
“Notices were issued to several scrapyard owners on my initiative. But the sarpanch of Colvlae panchayat who was aligned with Halarnkar passed a resolution not to demolish the scrapyards,” he said.
