CANACONA
As many as 11 cattle were mowed down by two speeding fish-laden vehicles plying in opposite directions on the NH66 highway at Dapot-Maxem in Loliem-Polem in the wee hours of Saturday.
This is the second incident in Canacona taluka in a week where vehicles have mowed down cattle on the road, prompting locals to blame police teams on night patrol for failing to drive away the cattle from the highway.
According to sources, the cattle had squatted in the middle of the highway at Madditolop in Dapot-Maxem, just near a petrol station.
“It was about 4.30 am on Saturday when two fish-laden vehicles plying in opposite directions mowed down the cattle from both sides, killing 11 of them on the spot,” said a source.
Petrol pump attendants on duty reportedly saw both vehicles speed away, one towards Margao and another towards Karwar.
It is suspected that the drivers of both fish vehicles may have been blinded by the headlights and had failed to see the cattle on the road.
Sometime later, news spread in the area, and locals rushed to the site and moved all the dead cattle by the side of the highway.
Later in the day, former Loliem-Polem sarpanch and panch Ajit alias Ajay Lolienkar engaged his JCB to excavate pits and buried all the eleven cattle near the site of the incident.
Locals blamed police teams on night patrol for failing to drive away the cattle from the highway.
“Many times, these police patrol teams just park their vehicle by the roadside and return to the barracks early in the morning. Else, if these police vehicles are moving on the road, why can’t they see the cattle lying in the middle of the road,” asked a resident, Santan Da Costa.
According to a villager, a panch called up the Canacona police station and sought to know why patrol teams were not paying attention to cattle squatting on the road at night. He was reportedly told that the patrol/robot team with vehicles comes under the jurisdiction of the DIG of Police.
Residents then appealed to the DIG to issue directions to the patrol/robot teams to monitor cattle-prone spots, especially during nighttime.
Last week, 6 buffaloes, including two pregnant bovines, were hit and killed by speeding heavy vehicles on two nights in different incidents on the Manohar Parrikar Canacona Bypass Road (MPCBR).
Earlier on July 26-27, 2021, a truck had run over 13 cattle lying on the road near the petrol pump at Gulem, killing 11 cattle and injuring two others. The truck was later intercepted at Polem border check post and the driver from UP was detained in this connection.
