MARGAO: Velim villagers on Sunday opposed tooth and nail the proposed minor fishing harbour proposed at the Cutbona fishing jetty.
At the Sunday gram sabha, villagers opposed, in one voice, the minor harbour project and demanded a total stop to further development at the Cutbona fishing jetty other than the construction of toilets. A resolution was also adopted against the future extension of the jetty belonging to the government. Some of the villagers dared the Panchayat members to resign on the issue and face re-election.
The meeting witnessed commotion at the time of confirmation of minutes when villagers questioned the sarpanch over the failure of the Panchayat to write to the chief minister and other authorities concerned informing that locals are opposing the proposed “mini fishing harbour.”
Sarpanch Melwyn Sanchez promised to convene Special Gram Sabha on November 16 to discuss withdrawal of provisional No Objection Certificate (NOC) given to Director of Fisheries by the panchayat for developing the existing Cutbona fishing jetty in view of villagers’ objections to the proposal. Heated discussions ensued on the issued with members Ramona Almeida and Vinay Tari demanding that the Sarpanch withdraw the NOC issued to the Director of Fisheries, with the Sarpanch refusing to adopt a resolution withdrawing the NOC claiming that though the present gram sabha was convened to discuss on the project of development of Cutbona fishing jetty, the issue of withdrawal of NOC is not part of the agenda for today’s gram sabha meeting. He promised to convene Special Gram Sabha on November 16 to discus specifically the issue of withdrawing NOC.
It may be recalled that last gram sabha held on September 21 the issue of “mini fishing harbour” was discussed at length in the presence of Local MLA Benjamin Fernandes with resolution moved opposing the “mini fishing harbour” by Vinay Tari unanimously having been adopted by the gram sabha members. Sarpanch had then clarified that NOC issued by the panchayat to Director of Fisheries for development of jetty would be withdrawn if the department misused the same for transforming the existing jetty into ‘mini fishing harbour.”
Incidentally, commotion started at confirmation of minutes of last gram sabha over non- compliance.
