MARGAO, JULY 11
Agitated gram sabha members of Sao Jose de Areal on Sunday demanded the resignation of the sarpanch for her alleged failure to crack a whip against illegal scrapyards, cement godowns and the fibre glass factory in the village.
Members walked out of the meeting in protest against the inability of the sarpanch to answer host of queries on these and other issues.
That the meeting would turn out stormy was evident from the word go, with gram sabha member demanding from the chair over the police presence at the last meeting. When the sarpanch answered saying that the police were called by the panchayat for protection, the members demanded that the police be called for today’s meeting as well and allowed the proceedings to take place only after the police personnel were called at the venue.
The questions over the illegal scrap yards were raised by the members , who demanded to know when the Panchayat body would get rid of the illegal yards from the village. The sarpanch replied that the panchayat has razed down a couple of scrap yards and demanded that the process is underway to demolish the remaining ones.
At this stage, members drew attention of the sarpanch to a construction that have come up in an open space and demanded that to know why the panchayat has not moved in and sealed the illegal premises.
On the question of the fibre glass factory that has come in the village, under the guise of a workshop, the members demanded that the panchayat immediately sent a notice to the owner and stop the activity. They feared that the rejects from the unit would find its way into the fields and water bodies and pollute the environment.
