Team Herald
VASCO: The proposal for bifurcation of Chicalim panchayat was strongly opposed by majority of gram sabha members on Sunday.
A group of gram sabha members demanded that Dabolim be carved out of Chicalim and be made a separate panchayat was rejected by gram sabha as large number of people strongly objected to the demand. The majority said they want to stay united.
The group that demanded a separate Dabolim panchayat said that the increasing population, distance between Dabolim and Chicalim and slow pace of work done in the panchayat calls for a dedicated panchayat for Dabolim area.
Later, speaking to the media, Sharif Sheikh, who was supporting the bifurcation of Chicalim panchayat said, “We have demanded separate panchayat due to increase in the population and also workload in the existing panchayat staff. We put up the proposal duly signed by several locals who want separate panchayat in Dabolim. But the Chicalim panchayat has rejected it saying that we need to show the majority. Therefore we have decided that for next gram sabha meeting, we will bring more number of signatures and more people to show our strength for our demand.”
Sheikh also cited that as per the Panchayati Raj Act, if the population of village increases then a separate panchayat can be formed.
“We put up the proposal expecting a positive response, but we didn’t receive good response,” gram sabha members Dattaprasad Bandodkar said.
Later, Sarpanch Sebastiao Pereira informed that, a group of people had put a proposal demanding a separate panchayat for Dabolim village. The proposal was put up in the gram sabha meeting and majority of the gram sabha members straightaway rejected the proposal.
Edwin Mascarenhas, a gram sabha member, said that he and other likeminded people raised objection and rejected the proposal to bifurcate Chicalim panchaya to carve out a separate panchayat for Dabolim.
“The proposal was rejected, because this issue was not on the gram sabha agenda list. Secondly, the Panchayati Raj Act does not give powers to panchayat to discuss bifurcation of panchayat in the gram sabha. There are clearly laid down guidelines in the Panchayati Raj Act. Therefore, any decision regarding bifurcation of panchayat will be deemed illegal, hence, the panchayat and the gram sabha rejected this issue,” he said.
Another gram sabha member Cyril Fernandes said that the reasons given by the pro-bifurcation group such as distance to reach panchayat, slow pace of work, population increase etc are not concrete reasons for bifurcation.
“We have suggested to this group to contact the village development committee and come up with solutions to the issues faced by the group,” Fernandes added.
When asked whether he smells politics behind the proposal just before the Zilla election, Fernandes said, “A local representative has made a statement in the media recently regarding bifurcation of Chicalim panchayat. We were shocked to read the statement. If there is any hidden agenda to this proposal, then, we villagers condemn such move. And we feel that nobody should spoil the tranquillity of the village for their electoral benefit,” Fernanded said.
