MARGAO: Carmona’s special gram sabha on Sunday constituted a 22-member Village Development Committee (VDC) complying with the directives of the Directorate of Panchayats.
Members of the Village Development Committee were unanimously elected ward-wise, with gram sabha members proposing and seconding names of their respective ward residents.
Acting Sarpanch Savita Mascarenhas, who chaired the gram sabha, put the question before the House whether they should go ahead with the proposal to constitute the Village Development Committee or defer it as not much time was given to the panchayat/ gram sabha for the purpose
However, gram sabha member Antonio Silva proposed that the committee be set up on Sunday itself so as not to violate the government’s directive. His proposal was seconded by
Blair Rodrigues and unanimously supported by all the members present.
Subsequently, the gram sabha went ahead and conducted the process where members from all seven wards were unanimously elected to the crucial 22-member Village Development Committee.
Also, another gram sabha member, Ms Bona D’Silva, proposed that all other existing village committees be dissolved as these committees were not constituted at any gram sabha meetings and were ineffective or failed in their duty to the village in their specific areas/subjects.
This proposal was seconded by Antonio Silva and was unanimously supported by gram sabha members and accordingly all the committees were dissolved.
To double check that the proceedings were adequately recorded and complied with technical requirements of the Panchayat Act, Venzy Viegas requested the Panchayat Secretary Sharda Velgekar to read out the recorded minutes, which she promptly did and confirmed that it was all in order.
