A couple of thoughts: 1. Is it possible to hire from a pool of villagers, observers who are present when every truck is loaded. The roji --or if it is a salary, to be paid by the mine-owners monthly into an account to go directly to the village, and disbursed accordingly. I gather that there must not be any weighing station, to speak of. Of course being scrupulous would help a lot. Of course thsi needs legislations from our politicians.
2. All trucks should be tarped (tarpaulin), so spillage and particulates would be minimized as much as possible under the prevailing method of operation (which is a greivious injury to the villagers -- their children, fauna, and livestock. This means that after a truck a loaded it would be covered wth a trapaulin or hi-strength PVC covering. In fact every incoming truck should be checked whether they have the "requisite" covering before it is filled. If a truck is not traped correctly, or is seen with the tarp flying in the wind, then it would be be stopped by the RTO and allowed to move only after the problem has been fixed. The villagers from anywhere should also have the right to stop a truck, under the circumstances. This is much like a citizens arrest, although in actuality having to do with environmental concerns. Greed is everywhere, but I sometime wonder whether a poor comprehension of swadeshi, a lack of develping domestic markets, faux nationalism, by the same swadeshi bhagats brought about this state of affairs, where "Delhi sees us as a brothel," (provided by a dear friend) where even police and our politicians, leave alone some dimwit -- who will find a companion for his son or daughter to marry into Goa to marry -- find it all normal. I remember a couple of lines from an old poem, "Svatantra desh ke yuvak, samuday desh ko karao, badhe chalo, badhe chalo. Navven kamna karo, naveen samna lado. Are these Kamnayein a gift from the politicians, so Quepem villagers may face more Samna's (samnayein)? At this point as related to Goa and mining, "karao" makes deep anguised sense. sam-ud-ay (rise, as the sun rises), sam-ud-dhay (multitude). Students are critical in any current fight with the system, but I do not trust what the police and politicians are capable of. Even Greeks move less violently against its own people. venantius j pinto From: JOAO FERNANDES <[email protected]> Subject: [Goanet] From John Fernandes The villagers of Copelabhat Quepem on Wednesday evening gheraod the Assistant Director of Director of Transport Quepem Shri G.S. Narvekar over an hours over their inaction against the overloading mining truck. That around 10 villagers barged into the cabin of the Assistant Director of Transport and question him about the action taken by his office against the overloading mining truck. Answering to the villagers the assistant Director of Transport informed the agitating villagers that their office has issued challans to the erring truck. Over which the villagers question the RTO officials if challans are issued than how the overloading of truck still continues and that too when they have to pass by the side of the RTO their office. But the RTO could not give satisfactory rely to the villagers. The irritated villagers then warned the RTO it they do not take action against the overloading truck then they will come on the road and block the mining truck without giving any prior intimation.
