Goemkarponn desk
BICHOLIM: Tense moments were witnessed in Kudchirem-Bicholim when irate residents protested a survey being done for a proposed construction and debris facility.
Clashes between locals and police were also witnessed as furious locals tried to stop the ongoing survey. Locals continued to protest the survey work and even confronted the police.
The agitated villagers clashed with police, who were deployed there in large numbers. The police also detained some villagers and later released them at the police station.
While local MLA Premendra Shet firmly assured the villagers that the preliminary survey work would not be halted, hundreds of villagers marched to the location of the land survey to protest the proposal.
He attempted to calm the mob by explaining that the plant processed C&D trash, but they were not amenable to any kind of justification. The villagers declared their opposition to the proposed plant’s establishment.
When irate residents assembled to oppose the survey, a team from the GWMC and Bicholim Mamlatdar Praveen Gawas visited the Kudchirem site.
Premendra Shet, Mayem MLA, hurried to the scene to reassure the irate residents that this project is not a garbage treatment facility.
Shet attempted to reassure the populace that they would not suffer in any way by stating that the government would be considerate of their worries, but he also pledged to support the hamlet and its residents.
It was reported that the Goa Debris Management Corporation (GWMC) donated 40,000 square meters of land in Kudchirem to the government in 2019 so that it could establish a factory for processing construction and demolition debris.
Bicholim Mamlatdar Pravin Gawas and GWMC representatives visited the location on Thursday to do the first survey work.
Even though the government attempted to persuade the people that C&D waste was an inert waste that could be recycled or reused, the locals objected, claiming that the proposed facility would cause disturbance in the hamlet. However, the people were not inclined to hear them out.
