SIOLIM: The drugs issue dominated the Sodiem Siolim gram sabha on Sunday as the meeting turned stormy with the gram sabha members hitting out at the Mapusa police, ANC and panchayat for not taking drug peddling seriously.
Alleging that school children were exploited by drug peddlers, the members mentioned certain black spots where there is rampant drug trade and substance abuse including Bancarvaddo, Maina, Pilimbi and Xell.
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The members claimed that in a particular school in Siolim constituency, students were suspended after they were found consuming drugs in the school bathroom. Some were suspended when the banned substance was found in the racks. This menace could spread to schools in the whole constituency of Siolim including Sodiem as students from this village also study in nearby schools in the constituency. They said that drugs may reach other schools in the vicinity if peddlers are given free hand to operate in the area and the residents feared that in the near future that these students could venture into drug peddling and end up being addicts if the situation was not brought under control.
Fearing that the situation could turn from bad to worse, they demanded that the police act immediately rather than wasting their time in chasing touts in Calangute. They said the men in uniform should nab the drug peddlers in Siolim which is a coastal area and attracts illegal activities.
Police touring around the place for a day and then vanishing will serve no practical purpose. Peddlers have to be booked by the police, they demanded.
Gram sabha members like Roque Fernandes questioned why the panchayat failed to forward the resolutions passed at the previous gram sabhas to the police and higher authorities.
Sarpanch Deepa Pednekar informed that the panchayat had written three letters to Mapusa Police, ANC and other authorities but there was no response from them. The gram sabha members said that the police station incharge should be asked to face the public before the situation goes out of hand.
The members said, “Our youth are precious and are the pillars of the nation and hence the panchayat cannot remain a mute spectator to the illicit trade taking place in the village.”
However, Panchayat Secretary Akhil Mahalkar stated that on one occasion the police visited a spot and did a recce of one area in Siolim. But afterwards there was no sign of the police.
