MARGAO: Navelim Deputy Sarpanch Paul Pereira clarified that the panchayat was never given a copy of the plan of the western bypass by the authorities despite the same being shown to villagers and used at meetings with the villagers.
“We have also written to various authorities including the PWD to give us a copy of the plan but till date nobody has bothered to submit the same or have they replied to our letters,” he said while clarifying that at gram sabha they could not submit the plan because it was never given to them.
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He criticised the Director of Panchayats for not responding to correspondence sent by the panchayat and added this causes difficulties for the people elected at the village level while dealing with the villagers.
For example, he said that when the Director of Panchayats directed that there should be “no other business” in the agenda of the gram sabha, the Navelim Panchayat had objected to it and wrote to the Director of Panchayats that developmental suggestions would be considered under “any other business” of the gram sabha.
“This was done because sometimes it is quite possible that the villager does not get the time to put down his/her suggestion in writing and hence we decided that only development suggestions will be taken up and even wrote to the Panchayat Director,” he said.
