MARGAO: The eight village panchayats of Salcete which didn’t convene their ordinary gram sabhas in the month of January despite an order of the Block Development Officer will now have to hold two gram sabhas.
The one, which was scheduled in January, that was not held and the other being the ordinary gram sabha to be held in the month of April.
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BDO Paritosh Faldessai said, “Because the panchayats did not convene the gram sabhas in January as mandated, they had issued an order asking the 29 villages in Salcete to hold gram sabhas on February 28.
“Accordingly, some villages held their gram sabhas on February 28, while many others conducted on subsequent Sundays. However, eight villages did not have the gram sabhas even in the month of March which is now ending and in April panchayats are supposed to have their second ordinary gram sabha,” he said.
The eight panchayats that did not conduct the gram sabhas are Telaulim, Orlim, Varca, Nuvem, Dramapur-Sirlim, Davorlim-Dicarpale, Sernabatim-Vanelim-Colva-Gandaulim and Cana Benaulim.
It would be pertinent to point out that many villages did not conduct any gram sabha in the whole year of 2020 due to the lockdown ordered in view of the corona pandemic and the Sao Jose de Areal Village Panchayat for example held its last gram sabha in November 2019.
Paritosh said, “The BDO will issue a fresh order asking the eight panchayats that did not conduct the gram sabha to hold it as soon as possible.”
“After conducting the gram sabha for January they will have to conduct another gram sabha after a few days to fulfill the law that demands a gram sabha in April,” he added.
The Panchayat Raj Act mandates that a gram sabha be held on any Sunday of the months of January, April, July and October. However, it is silent on what punitive action can be taken if the panchayat does not convene the gram sabha except that the BDO is then directed to call for the gram sabha which is what they did and yet the eight villages did not comply.
