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Mining

Colomb villagers lay siege to Quepem police station

NT News Service

Quepem, March 25: An agitated crowd of over 150 people from Colomb, Rivona laid siege to the Quepem police station late today evening demanding that all activities at a mining site located in the village be immediately stopped. Earlier in the day, the Quepem police placed 13 persons from the village under preventive arrest after police apprehended trouble at the mining site.

According to the Quepem police, the villagers are protesting against the site and alleging that it is illegal. Today morning a group of around 30-35 people, most of them women, blocked the road leading to the site by placing boulders and squatting across the road.

After being informed about the development, the Quepem police, along with additional reinforcements, rushed to the site and urged the villagers to clear the road. As police appeals went unheeded, the protestors were then pushed into the waiting police vans and brought to the Quepem police station. 13 persons were arrested under Section 151 of the Criminal Procedure Code, police sources informed.

Following the arrest, hundreds of villagers rushed to the Quepem police station demanding that those arrested be released and that the mining operations be immediately stopped. “The case is mired in litigation. The contention of the protestors is that the mine is being illegally operated and are demanding that we stop all mining operations,” the Quepem sub divisional police officer, deputy superintendent of police, Mr Rohidas Patre informed. “We have convinced the people that it is for the court to decide the legality or otherwise of the mine and have prevailed upon them to maintain peace,” he added.

Convinced by the police the protestors later left the police station.

All 13 arrested persons were later released on bail after being produced before the sub divisional magistrate, Quepem.

Besides Mr Patre, Quepem sub divisional magistrate, Mr Johnson Fernandes, Quepem police inspector, Mr Naresh Mhamal, Sanguem police inspector, Mr Ramesh Gaonkar, Curchorem police inspector, Mr Nilesh Rane, were camping at the site throughout the day to oversee the law and order situation.