TEAM HERALD
OLD GOA: Dismissing statements by Corlim Sarpanch Supriya Kerkar regarding the panchayat building and surrounding property as “vague” the Comunidade of Corlim has accused elected representatives, past and present, of failing to maintain and repair the traditional Goan-style panchayat house.
The Attorney of the Corlim Comunidade Baptist Pereira was responding to statements by Kerkar, who had admitted that the panchayat did not have documents pertaining to its own panchayat building and a multipurpose community hall.
“This old panchayat was built way back in 1973 and land for the building was given by the Corlim comunidade as a goodwill gesture. We do not have documents for the panchayat office, but we will try and trace them,” Kerkar was quoted in an earlier Herald report.
“RTI documents obtained have clearly stated that ‘the Panchayat office was constructed in 1992. The Panchayat office concrete slab has gone weak and pieces of the same are coming down, as per the report submitted by an architect,’” said Pereira.
“When the rights of the property were acquired in 1988, how dare the Sarpanch make vague statements saying that the panchayat was built in 1973 and that, the land was given by goodwill, when the land was acquired in a case dated January 21, 1988,” asked Pereira.
Recalling the history of the panchayat house, Pereira said Corlim had only one school ‘Eschola Primaria de Corlim,’ during the Portuguese regime, belonging to Comunidade de Corlim with surrounding property.
“But soon after Liberation, this Portuguese-medium school was discontinued. Realizing that Corlim had no Panchayat Ghar and was functioning from the Carambolim Panchayat, the Gaunkars of Comunidade of Corlim permitted to use the school premises as a Panchayat Ghar. However, the premises were acquired by the government in 1988, along with the surrounding property,” said Pereira.
“The irony is that the only structure that is usable and from which the Panchayat can function is the single hall that used to be the Eschol Primaria. But over the years all elected representatives have failed to maintain and repair the traditional Goan-style Panchayat house,” he added.
