Siolim gram sabha called off amid protests
TEAM HERALD
bureau@herald-goa.com
PORVORIM: The Siolim Gram Sabha on Sunday witnessed noisy scenes due to which it was called off amid protests.
The villagers demanded that the minutes of the meeting be explained properly for the benefit of everybody, but Panchayat Secretary S Kambli reportedly finished reading the minutes quickly and sought confirmation of it.
The villagers also raised the issue of illegal constructions mushrooming in the village. The villagers sought to know what action panchayat has taken against illegal constructions in the village and destruction of forest cover in Marna and Wadi.
“Site inspection has been carried out of those projects and the panchayat is waiting for the report from Town and Country Planning department,” said the panchayat secretary.
However, the villagers were not satisfied with the panchayat secretary’s reply.
A resident, Amrut Agarwadekar, stated that sufficient powers have been vested with the panchayat under the Panchayat Raj Act and hence panchayat can act on its own against such illegalities.
There were heated arguments between Agarwadekar and some locals. However, sensing trouble, Sarpanch Anita Chari summoned police.
In the meantime, the sarpanch tried to pacify the villagers and requested to maintain silence, but the villagers were in no mood to listen to the sarpanch.
When the panchayat secretary took up development issues, heated arguments were witnessed between the secretary and the villagers.
Locals claimed that the secretary has no business to conduct the meeting and demanded that if the sarpanch was not aware of her duties, she should resign.
The panchayat secretary stopped conducting the meeting and instead directed police to remove a local from the Gram Sabha. However, the local defended saying that she didn’t do anything wrong, but got annoyed as the secretary was giving them unsatisfactory answers.
Later, noisy scenes prevailed and the sarpanch had to call off the meeting.