Gadchiroli Sept. 10 (District Correspondent) Many village panchayats in Chamorshi taluka have demanded that the transport of iron ore be stopped during the day time immediately on the highway to avoid accidents and dust.

The office bearers of Ashti, Ankhoda and Markada (Kansoba) Gram Panchayats passed the   resolutions in this effect recently and submitted the memorandums to the Ashti Police Station in this regard.

There have been many accidents due to increasing traffic of the vehicles filled with iron ore from Surjagad Hills being plied on Allapalli-Ashti road for the last few days. The people living in the road side villages also have to face the problems of dust due to continuous traffic on the road, The travellers on the road also have to face many difficulties, pointed out the memorandum.

As 500 to 600 trucks are running every day, the public transport system is frequently blocked on this important road. Therefore, the traffic of these vehicles should be stopped during the day and it should be done between 8 pm to 6 am, it has been demanded.

Due to the heavy traffic and iron dust caused by the trucks, citizens have also been facing problem of health. These vehicles therefore should be asked to be covered with tarpaulin.  As these vehicles are parked along the main road, at busy places and in the vicinity of schools and rural hospitals, the possibility of accidents among school students, cyclists and citizens traveling on two-wheeler vehicles has increased, it was also mentioned in the memorandum.

Ashti, Markanda and Ankhoda village panchayats have passed the resolutions regarding these problems and submitted them to the Incharge of Ashti Police Station Kundan Gawde urging him to prohibit parking of vehicles in the above area. They also warned of a major agitation if no action is taken in this regard immediately.

Fed up with the severe problems caused by iron ore carrying vehicles, these three Gram Panchayats came together and raised a unanimous demand regarding the transportation issue. The office bearers of the Gram Panchayat said that they will give the memorandums in this regard to the Tehsildar and the District Collector also shortly.

On behalf of Ashti Gram Panchayat, Sarpanch Babytai Burande, Member Kapil Pal, Santosh Barapatre, On behalf of Ankhoda Gram Panchayat, Sarpanch Rekhatai Yelmule, Dy. Sarpanch Vasant Chaudhary, Sarpanch Vanashree Chaple and on behalf of Markada Gram Panchayat, Gram Panchayat Member Bharti Potwar, Vijay Bahirewar, Nandu Sidam, Prabhakar Lotane, Suresh Mohurle, Sainath Kulmethe, Anwar Syed, Pankaj Yelmule, Sanjay Bhoyer and others were present while submitting the memorandum.

Photo Village Panchayat members submitting the memorandum.