MARGAO: Villagers of Aquem Baixo while complimenting the panchayat for reviving the Panchayat Cup football tournament after a gap of 18 years also appealed to the sarpanch to take stringent action against the vendors converting the area near the Rawanfond bridge into a commercial area and also those using residential premises for business purpose.
The youth of the village led by Claude Dias congratulated the panchayat for restarting the panchayat cup football tournament in the village after a gap of 18 years and even presented a bouquet to the Sarpanch Siddesh Bhagat.
The villagers however urged the sarpanch to prepare a proper football ground in the village as this facility was lacking and lamented that two areas identified for setting up the ground in the past have since changed into settlement zones with buildings constructed.
The sarpanch while appealing to the villagers to identify area that could be converted into a playground also promised to start a panchayat level cricket tournament very shortly. “Before the next gram sabha I promise you that we shall have a cricket tournament in the village,” he said.
He also assured the people that action will be taken against those using their residential premises for commercial purpose. The issue came up after a woman complained about her neighbour manufacturing chewda in his house. “The quantum of business has increased tremendously in the last one year and it is causing problems for us,” she said.
However, the sarpanch revealed that the party was given a trade licence 15 years ago to conduct the business and even as the woman admitted having supplied coconut husk to the person earlier, Siddesh promised to take action as there were complaints from other villagers too.
Walter Dias who had contested the panchayat elections unsuccessfully asked the sarpanch to immediately stop the vendors from converting the Rawanfond bridge area into a commercial zone.
“While the panchayat is quick to act against Goans selling anything, no action seems to be taken against these migrants carrying out all kinds of business there,” he said.
However, the sarpanch revealed that the panchayat along with police had removed all the vendors on Saturday and urged the people to chase away anybody found doing business there by pointing out that the panchayat had driven them away earlier.
The sarpanch also assured to follow up on the demolition of the two Jio mobile towers in the village as promised at the last gram sabha. “We had written to the BDO who in turn referred the matter to the Sub Divisional Magistrate who however has not taken any action,” he said adding that the panchayat would follow up on the matter.
The villagers congratulated the panchayat for saving Rs 11 lakh by inspecting the works that were proposed by the previous body and changing some of the works to mere repairs instead of new construction like drains in a few cases.
