Margao | Nov 12, 2015: Though actual mining of iron ore is yet to resume in the state, cases of violation of transportation rules by truckers carrying e-auctioned ore, particularly in South Goa's mining belt, is already on the rise.

And as most of the trucks engaged in transportation of ore belong to Sesa Goa Ltd (Vedanta Ltd), the traffic cell of Curchorem police has written to Sesa Goa Ltd to rein in the errant truckers carrying its ore in order to streamline the mining vehicular traffic. The gravity of the situation is borne out from the letter addressed to the general manager, Sesa Goa Ltd by PI (traffic) Edwin Colaco. "At the unloading point at Emco jetty, merely two weigh bridges are in operation. To add to the woes, besides unloading the iron ore of Vedanta's Codli mines, this jetty also simultaneously handles the unloading of iron ore transported from Timblo mines, Tollem, Sanguem, and Vedanta, Curpem, Sanguem. Handling consignments of 1,076 trucks on October 27, 2015, and 1,490 trucks on October 28, 2015, speaks volumes of the strain put on the minor infrastructure at Emco plot, Capxem, which leads to formation of massive and serpentine queues of mining trucks from Capxem right upto Gandhinagar on the Tisk-Sanvordem-Codli road and also leading upto Ravindra Bhavan within the limits of Curchorem town."

The letter points out to the threat posed by large number of trucks moving along the narrow roads: "The insufficient width of the roads to handle two heavy vehicles at a time, coupled with plying of other vehicular traffic at normal hours further leads to traffic bottlenecks at Tisk, Sanvordem. All vehicles leaving the mines after 12pm are unable to cross the junction before 1pm and these vehicles add up to the chaos and pile up during the no-entry frame. This frustrates road users and exposes hapless students to the dangers of road accidents."

Pointing out that the trucks are mostly found without covering iron ore with tarpaulin cover, Colaco has also drawn the attention of Sesa Goa Ltd to the "abrupt halting and irresponsible parking of mining vehicles on the roadside by drivers" thereby "causing obstruction to smooth flow of vehicular traffic and grave inconvenience to other road users."

Pointing out to one of the conditions imposed by the South Goa collector for carrying out mining transportation, Colaco said in the letter, "This office would at least expect your good self to deploy adequate number of traffic marshals with designated reflective jackets at major junction/intersections from the loading to unloading point to effectively assist in an effort to ease the enormous strain on the miniscule strength of this cell."

A senior official of Sesa Goa Ltd said, "We follow all norms and regulations laid down by the authorities. All our trucks are fitted with GPS mechanism which enables tracking of their movement."

(Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/)