Areal villagers want action against blasting

Areal villagers want action against blasting
HERALD REPORTER
MARGAO, FEB 22
Sao Jose de Areal villagers on Sunday demanded that the Panchayat body immediately lodge a complaint to stop blasting carried out at a new site in the village for basalt mining.
At the Sunday gram Sabha, members drew attention of the Panchayat to the fresh activity and called upon the Sarpanch to lodge a complaint against the miscreants involved in the activity. Members sought to know from the Sarpanch whether the Panchayat is aware of the activity and demanded action.
Incidentally, the gram Sabha meeting lasted till 5.30 pm before it was adjourned to March 1.
In another resolution, the gram Sabha vehemently opposed the move by Panchayat Minister, Babu Azgaonkar to take away the powers of the Panchayats. Agitated members questioned the logic of the government to weaken the Panchayats when the 73rd Constitutional Amendment bestows powers on the local-self government bodies.
The meeting also witnessed heated discussions on the contentious issues of scrap yard with members demanding action against the illegal business. Sarpanch Martha Cardozo replied that the Panchayat has issued show cause notices on the scrap yards and action will follow.
On the mega housing project,  agitated members grilled the Sarpanch on the file of approach road to the mega housing project in the village comprising of 200 flat. Contending that the project was approved without the provision for a road, the gram Sabha members asked the panchayat to take action.
The meeting witnessed an uproar after the Panchayat maintained that documents relating to directions issued to a builder at to shift the septic tank have gone missing. The members demanded the resignation of the Panch member in whose ward the project is coming up, holding him responsible for the missing documents.
The villagers have demanded that the village talathi keep open for public scrutiny the ration cards and voting card issued in recent time.
 The members said they want to verify whether the card holders are indeed staying in the locality or have made the duplicate documents to avail benefits.
In another resolution, the gram Sabha demanded that the government withdraw land acquisition proceeding to acquire paddy fields from the village for a football ground proposed by neighbouring Paroda village.
On the question of malaria raising its ugly head at Nessai, the gram Sabha demanded adequate compensation to the victims, since most of the affected parties were poor daily wager earners.