Pics & News:  Mounesh Vishwakarma

Daijiworld Media Network—Bantwal (EP)

Bantwal, Apr 18: Villagers in Nekkare near Ajjinadka blocked lorries and protested against the throwing of crusher waste on the public road causing hindrance to road users. The incident occurred on Friday April 17.

The Zilla panchayat road at Ajjinadka Kambalimoole was tarred about six years ago. Several materials from the nearby crushers in Madatharu such as jelly stones are being transported to Kerala on the road via Poonacha. As large vehicles with ten wheels are also plying on the road, the tar from the road has come off causing large potholes. Though the crusher owners promised to tar the road during the grama meetings, they have not done so.

Meanwhile, on Friday, a tipper had thrown waste such as stone powder, large black stones, and other waste on the road and gone away. It was inevitable that vehicles passing by go over the debris or to circumvent it. As a two-wheeler rider was about to have an accident due to the debris, the people who gathered there stopped the trucks passing by and protested. They also stopped a JCB on the way.

As nearly 200 people had gathered there, Vitla station police came and brokered a compromise. The protesters demanded that no lorries should pass until the road is repaired and that the crushers should stop functioning. The crusher owners have consented to this. The protesters warned that there will be further protests if lorries continued to ply on the road. The protests were later called off.