Mobile tower work under police protection angers Colva villagers

Colva residents on Wednesday yet again expressed their anger over the commencement of work to install a mobile tower in Ward IV under the police protection.

The Colva Panchayat was in dilemma, as its decision to stop work was not considered valid by the South Goa District Collector’s office.

Sarpanch Johnson Coelho and the villagers said they will approach the Collector in this regard, to take into consideration the ground reality. However, the land owner is of strong opinion that the panchayat has no rights to decide on the issue, as the orders to install the mobile tower are given by the PWD through a single window system.

On Wednesday, the locals noticed the commencement of the work to install a mobile tower by the concerned telecommunication company under police protection. Colva PI Tukaram Chavan and his team’s presence at the site angered the villagers.

It may be recalled that a few days ago Joint Mamlatdar Rosario Carvalho had rushed to the site and had directed to stop the work temporarily stating the situation could lead to law and order problem.

Earlier, the panchayat had issued a stop work notice and had called for a special gram sabha meeting to discuss the issue on October 10 followed by inspection on October 11.

Speaking to media persons, Savio Rodrigues, a local said they are opposed to the installation of a mobile tower in the residential area.

“The property documents are not valid and I was wondering how the lease contract was made by the concerned telecommunication company. They have left no setback and the Regional Plan has been disturbed. How can they go ahead with the work when the panchayat has issued a stop work notice”, he asked.

He said they will approach the collector’s office and explain the ground reality.

The sarpanch said the panchayat had taken a decision to stop the work of installing the mobile tower, and hence a notice was issued to the company.

“We had even called for the special gram sabha to discuss the issue but today we showed the commencing of the works again with police protection on the orders of the Collector’s office”, he said.

According to land owner Xisto Rodrigues, the telecommunication company has all the legal documents and permissions with regards to mobile tower installation.

“The Collector told us that there is no illegality in the matter. The PWD also clarified that the panchayat has no right to decide on the mobile tower installation. Hence, the panchayat body or the locals objecting to the mobile tower should approach the PWD or any other concerned authority”, he added. Herald