TEAM HERALD
CHORAO: Women self help groups from Chorao island have demanded with the Director of Panchayat to immediately transfer Chodan-Madel Panchayat Secretary Rupesh Halankar, as he reportedly failed to write a resolution in the minutes book.
In a memorandum to Director of Panchayat Narayan Sawant, the members of the self help groups stated that the panchayat secretary failed to write the resolution which was passed unanimously in the gram sabha on November 17, 2013.
The memorandum, signed by about 80 women, also claimed that Sarpanch Divya Usapkar is not serious in taking up the issues of women.
About 80 women from different self help groups and villagers from Chorao had asked the sarpanch to conduct an inquiry on the application dated November 4, 2013, on false allegations made by one suspected pancha against the women of self help groups.
“When one group president asked for the minutes of the gram sabha under the RTI, it was noticed that the secretary had not written a single line about the resolution,” stated Mahalaximi group President Pratima Kundaikar.
They demanded that in future, minutes and resolutions be recorded on the minutes book directly, and have threatened to agitate if action is not taken before the next gram sabha.
When contacted, Sarpanch Diya Usapkar said it is the duty of the panchayat secretary to record the minutes.
Secretary Rupesh Halankar said, “We know what to write and what not to write. It is written on a piece of paper as it is difficult to write directly in the minutes book as lots of corrections are required.”
