TEAM HERALD
teamherald@herald-goa.com
MARGAO: Winds of instability have started blowing over the coastal village of Benaulim post-April 12 Lok Sabha poll.
Seven out of the 11 village panchayat members have moved a no-confidence motion against sarpanch Royla Fernandes on Monday. Sarpanch Royla, who had refused to chant NaMo by declining to share the BJP platform in the just-concluded Lok Sabha poll, said she would face the motion and answer the charges levelled against her by the signatories.
Incidentally, all the seven signatories to the motion ~ Remedius Fernandes, Rita Furtado, Lawrence Fernandes, Xavier Pereira, Peter Jones, Anny D’Costa and Caitana Rebello e Fernandes literally paraded themselves in the office of the Salcete Block Development Officer Mardolkar on Thursday and signed the signatures on the notice of no-confidence motion before him.
In the notice, the seven signatories attributed their decision to the non-cooperative attitude of the sarpanch and for not taking the members into confidence.
When contacted, Royla said she would face the motion, while firmly ruling out the question of quitting office. “I do not know the exact reasons why the panch members have tabled the no-confidence motion against me. I will reply to the charges at the right time,” she said.
She said yesterday, one of the panch members had approached her and asked her to step down from office. “When I asked her what wrong I have committed in the last two years, the panch replied saying the group wants to make a male member as the new sarpanch,” Royla added.
While there was news doing the rounds in the village in the last couple of months that the ruling group would table a no-confidence against the sarpanch, the last straw is believed to have been when Royla declined to support the BJP in the April 12 Lok Sabha poll. “I decided not to support the BJP candidate because I uphold certain principles and hence could not back the BJP in the election,” she added.
Salcete BDO Mardolkar told Herald that since the signatories to the motion have signed the motion before him, there’s no question of verifying the signatures, adding that his office would soon convene a meeting of the Benaulim village panchayat to decide on the motion.
