PONDA: The villagers of Curti-Khandepar on Sunday, decided to hold a morcha, if the long pending truck parking issue is not solved by the Curti- Khandepar panchayat.

A couple of affected villagers said that they are fed up with the replies given by the panchayat and the sarpanch. They said that every time they have approached the panchayat over the last two years, they have been given the same reply; that the panchayat has written to the traffic police and beyond that they could not do anything else. They said that the villagers have now decided to hold a morcha to highlight
the issue.

Interestingly, the sarpanch, Mr Suraj Naik and the other panchas maintained silence when the villagers asked the elected panchayat members whether they would support them in the morcha.

According to these villagers, heavy goods trucks are parked illegally in private properties, on the shoulder of the road, and on any other land available to them, especially at Keriye area. They said these haphazard parking causes a lot of problems to the villagers. They further informed that the drivers and cleaners wash the trucks and the stinking and oily water flows onto the roads and in other properties and in agricultural land.

Villagers said that since there are no industries located in their panchayat jurisdiction, they should not have to entertain the trucks parking here. They said that it is a nuisance that is not wanted in their village. Villagers informed that a resolution to this effect was taken two years back, to keep a traffic police on 24-hour duty to man the areas, but it has been all to no avail as the menace continues, lamented the villagers.

Villagers also pointed that the Ponda traffic police inspector, Mr Salim Shaikh, had asked the panchayat to shift the truck parking from these areas, as it caused traffic congestions and as a traffic police personnel cannot be deputed; however, the panchayat has not paid any heed
to this.

The villagers alleged that the transport offices in the area do not pay tax to the panchayat, and hence they are illegal and demanded that they all should be closed down immediately.

Sarpanch, Mr Suraj Naik said that he would carry out an inspection soon and try to solve the issue, but the villagers were seemingly unhappy over the assurance as such assurances are always made but no action is taken later on.