PONDA: The Borim villagers discussed issues relating to garbage disposal, plastic ban, lack of crematorium and incomplete football ground at the gram sabha held on Sunday.
Gram sabha member Utkarsha Prabu Borkar and other locals informed the meeting that many migrants have purchased plots and constructed houses by the side of the main nullah in the village; recently, they had not only released waste water into the nullah, but also encroached on the banks.
Therefore, the locals asked the panchayat to verify the plots of migrants and their house construction plans to ascertain the area of encroachments.
The locals even gave the names of people who have encroached on the banks of the nullah and demanded that the encroachments be demolished before October 2 and submit a report of the same at the next gram sabha.
To solve the garbage issue, the villagers suggested that a proper disposal system be put in place in panchayat area. The locals also complained that they have been facing hardships in the absence of a crematorium.
To prevent flooding, the villagers demanded that the gutters be cleared before onset of monsoon. A woman complained that since the gutter was cleaned before the rains, the overflowing water flooded her house causing her family hardship.
The gram sabha also called for identifying a proper place for disposing bodies of stray cattle and dogs.
The gram sabha passed a resolution to not to distribute tree saplings, especially coconut sapling, to house owners who have less than 300 square metres of land. The villages said that coconuts grown in smaller areas cause nuisance and later leads to quarrel with neighbours forcing the panchayat to intervene and waste time on settling the dispute.
Since the panchayat has decided to ban use of plastic bags, the gram sabha decided to provide cloth bags to locals for shopping. Locals also demanded launch of panchayat website for updating people of panchayat activities.
