-- Samir Umarye *BICHOLIM*: At least 11 truck owners from Navelim and Kudnem in Sanquelim, who had rented out their trucks in Andhra Pradesh with a hope of earning some money, were in for a rude shock when they were denied their dues by a contractor and were further threatened by locals from the area.
According to reports, 21 truck owners from Navelim had rented out their trucks to a contractor in Andhra Pradesh, after mining operation came to a grinding halt in the State. “We were told that the work involved transporting soil from one place to another, but when our drivers went there they were in for a surprise after they were asked to transport boulders and big stones,” informed Vinayak Falkar. After realising that it would damage the trucks, about 10 trucks backed off and returned to Goa, but 11 others decided to continue with the work assigned to them. The trucks went to AP on April 26 and the truck owners were assured a rent of Rs 90,000 along with payment of the driver and entire maintenance. “The contractor assured us that we will be paid by June 10, but when we asked him, we were told that he will pay on August 10. As we got suspicious, we all decided to go to Anantapuram-AP and question the contractor,” informed Falkar. The truck owners went to Andhra Pradesh earlier this week and asked the contractor to pay the pending amount of about Rs 32 lakh. The contractor had split the trucks and had assigned work in three places, Putapulli, Atmakor and Narayanpur in AP. As the contractor declined to make the payment, the truck owners decided to return with their trucks. “We took the trucks and proceeded barely 5 kms from the area, when we were stopped by the villagers and workers of the contractor,” said a truck owner, Sanjay Navelkar. “The contractor had already bribed the local sarpanch. He had also spread the rumour that we were given Rs 1 lakh advance and we were stopped by the villagers from taking back the trucks. Sighting danger, we had no other option but to flee from the area with the truck keys and papers,” added Navelkar. Another truck owner, Sham Gawas, said: “If we had to stay there, the villagers would have attacked us. We immediately went to the nearby BJP office and contacted some ministers.” “It was only after the intervention of a BJP minister from Goa and under the protection of local BJP block president Vishwanath Reddy, who provided us the manpower, that we were able to take possession of the trucks,” added Gawas. “Two tyres of every truck were removed when we went back, but we at least got back the trucks,” he said. BJP workers from AP accompanied the truck owners for about 130 kms till the truck owners reached the state border. The trucks returned to Goa on Thursday, but the contractor is still to pay the truck owners about Rs 32 lakh.
