This has reference to Julio D’Silva’s report: “Carmona’s Big Ask: Will the P’yat be with the villagers on the ‘Raheja Issue’?” (Herald, August 10). It is certainly a well-known fact that the Carmona Villagers expect stringent action to be taken against the Rahejas by the newly elected Panchayat Panel by revoking the unjust construction licence issued by the previous panel.
What keeps the present Sarpanch from revoking the licence unjustly issued to Rahejas at a time when three of the Panchas, who got elected with the support of the CVWS Forum led by its President Soccorro Miranda, seek for its just revocation? Frankly, the Sarpanch Winston Dias got elected by his ward villagers on the assurance that the incoming elected panchayat will protect the village from being destroyed by the builders’ lobby, mainly the Rahejas. The villagers of Carmona are likely to feel betrayed if the licence is not revoked because of their obstinacy to act justly.
The sole reason given to delay revocation is that the matter is Sub Judice as PIL is filed in the High Court; but, this vague reason is unjustifiable. Instead, the two dilly-dallying panchas should have known better that the Carmona Village Panchayat has been added as a respondent in the PIL because of the illegal licence issued to the Rahejas by the previous panchayat; and that it is still retained as a respondent because the construction licence has not yet been revoked. If the Sarpanch had revoked the license, then understandably the Village Panchayat would have been dropped from the list of Respondents in the said PIL, once the High Court was informed about any such revocation of the illegally issued construction licence.
As long as there is no sufficient reason behind the ‘slow approach’ in dealing with the belligerent ‘Raheja issue’, the villagers have every reason to doubt and question their integrity of the highest elected local representative of the villages and those who are backing him.
