-- Samir Umarye BICHOLIM: Havoc was created when three of the locals were carried away with the giant wave of water mixed with the mining silt which came gushing down at Gaonkarwada Mulgao Bicholim after a soak pit of the Sesa (Vedant) mining Company situated at the top of the Mulgao village was breached away today at about 7.15 a.m.
The flow of the water was so powerful that water pulled away three persons including two on the road and one from the field. However, incessant efforts on the part of the villagers finally succeeded in rescuing the life of all three of them even as the danger of repeating such type of incident has not been over. The muddy water then entered into paddy fields destroying the Bagayat and paddy worth Rs. 1 crores of about 20 locals. The water also entered into Xetrapal and Mahadev temple later on and mining silt was also spread throughout Gaonkarwada area up to the height of 1.5 ft. A giant water pump of the company was alos carried away in the village along with strong water currents. The three persons who were carried away with the water are Sripad Raut, Rupesh Parab and Rajaram Parab. While, Sripad had gone into fields for answering nature call other two were standing on the roadside. Sripad who was carried away up to the distance of about 100 was very fortunate as he catch hold of a coconut tree and remain entangle up to 2 hours minutes calling the locals for his rescue. However, when his brother Sakharam saw him in danger he jumped into water and rescued him. The other two Rupesh and Rajaram were managed to save their lives by themselves. All three were hospitalized to PHC Bicholim of which two were discharged while, Sripad Raut was under observation till late evening. The incident struck was so sudden that no could have thought of it. Fortunately another major tragedy was averted as the incident occurred just 4-5 minutes after a kadamba bus carrying at about 70 school students had just passed away from the same road where the water came gushing down. “It is a rebirth for me as I had lost total hopes as I was about to fall soon after into the water if my brother had not reached within time as I started losing my strength” wondered Sripad Raut. It is pertinent to note that major flood occurred in Bicholim in the year 1981 due to Bicholim mines, in the year 1991 four locals were died at Vhalshim after a bund breached, in the year 2009 villagers suffered a major loss as mining mud entered into houses at manasbag, in 2010 a mine at tunnel was created to the mines at Lamgao. On getting the information Bicholim mamlatdar Pramod Bhat, deputy collector Narayan Gad, Bicholim PI Harish Madkaikar and fire brigade officials along with firemen rushed to the spot to help in the rescue operations. They were also accompanied by Bicholim MLA Rajesh Patnekar, youth leader Naresh Sawal, Councillor Kamlakar Teli, Bhagwan Harmalkar, Balu Birje, Mulgao sarpanch Yuga Mayekar, Vishalsen gad, Nilesh gad, Maheshwar parab, Vidhya Parab, Hemant Gad, Tulshidas parab, Rajaram parab, Vasant Gad and hundreds of villagers. Later on panchanama was alos condueted by Bicholim talathi Satyawan naik, Raoji Chopdekar and Natu Raut according to which villagers including Pundalik Chodankar, Laxman vazarkar, Shekhar rtaut, Bhikaji raut, Ladu gad, Rajan gad, Vishnu raut, Suresh raut, Sadashiv raut, Babli Raut, Ankush raut, Ankush raut, Navso raut, Jairam raut, Sripad raut, Umesh parab, Vsudev Parab, Kishore Gad and Vishalsen Gad were major sufferers. “A joint meeting of the villagers and mining company officials is convened on Monday at about10.30 a.m. to discuss about the losses suffered by villagers and also about finding out what precautionary measures were taken by Sesa Goa Company to avert this incident” said Bicholim mamlatdar Pramod Bhat also adding that Sesa Goa Company is fully responsible to compensate the farmers. Sesa Goa Company officials which included managing director Krishna Reddy and Mandrekar who visited the site three hours after the incident occurred were taken to the task by the villagers present. “ In future we will not keep any stone unturned to make such incidents happened even as today’s incident occurred due to some mistake despite of due precautions were taken up” said Sesa Goa managing director Krishna Reddy. Meanwhile, villagers have demanded to keep the mining work shut till future course of action is decided. Meanwhile, health minister Vishwajeet Rane who visited the site “it was necessary to take up due precautions on the part of the company which otherwise could have averted this incident”. “This is not a sustainable development, the Company has not taken due precautions due to which this incident took place” lambasted panch member Vishalsen Gad. Former Mulgao panch Vasant gad, local Hemant gad, former sarpanch Tulshidas Parab and leader of the women front and former sarpanch Vidhya Parab have also expressed concern over the matter. Meanwhile about 200 villagers from Mulgao and Mulgao vp together have filed a complaint with Bicholim police station in which they have demanded to arrest those who were responsible for the said offense which is a outcome of utter negligence as informed by former sarpanch Tulshidas parab..