Team Herald
PONDA: The Bandora gram sabha became a battleground on Sunday following heated exchanges between the sarpanch and Undir residents over the construction licence issued for the proposed Sewerage Treatment Plant (STP).
Though the STP issue was not on the agenda for the gram sabha, it dominated the three-hour meeting.
Venting their anger and fury at the panchayat for issuing the construction licence, the villagers shouted slogans at the sarpanch.
But coming to the defence of the sarpanch, his supporters clashed with the Undir residents, as such, the gram sabha became a near battlefield. While the Undir residents called the construction licence issued for the STP as illegal, the supporters of the sarpanch contended that it was legal. As the verbal exchanges reached a feverish pitch, the panchayat had to call the police to bring the situation under control.
When the gram sabha started, the Undir residents accused the panchayat of betraying them by issuing the construction licence for the STP. They said that earlier the panchayat refused to issue the licence in compliance of a gram sabha resolution which rejected the STP at Undir.
The Undir locals claimed that the said gram sabha resolution was binding on the panchayat, but Sarpanch Ramchandra Naik rejected their claim stating that it is not obligatory on the panchayat to implement the resolution. This led to a verbal exchange between the Undir locals and the sarpanch who was later joined by his supporters.
The sarpanch justified the decision to issue construction licence stating that since the project had the government approval and TCP technical clearance, the panchayat had to issue the licence as per the law. He also said that the Undir locals were free to challenge the panchayat’s decision to issue the licence in any court of law.
The Undir locals questioned that if gram sabha resolutions were not binding on the panchayat, then, why the government was wasting the time of the people by conducting gram sabhas. The issue was debated almost for three hours and as tension escalated, the police rushed to the place to maintain law and order.
Meanwhile, supporting the Undir residents, local Panch Bhaskar Naik said that the panchayat did not take him into confidence when it issued construction licence to STP.
In the beginning, locals took objection to the venue of gram sabha which was convened on the open ground in front of panchayat. However, the sarpanch justified his decision to hold the meeting on the open ground saying that he was expecting 500 villagers to attend the meeting, as such, he convened it at the place.
