Team Herald
MARGAO: The Carmona Panchayat at its meeting on Saturday resolved to make the deputy sarpanch a signatory to the panchayat account in the bank and also decided to issue a show cause notice to a villager for misrepresenting facts to it besides deciding to let the gram sabha decide about the ambulance given to them.
The meeting was attended by only four of the seven members of the panchayat as one member Josinho Mendes expired on 28th May while the Sarpanch Savita Mascarenhas has proceeded on leave till end of August and another member Allwyn George has gone on six months leave.
The panchayat that had earlier written to the Sarpanch Savita Mascarenhas that they did not accept her leave application has apparently changed its mind as today it was decided to inform the bank about the change in signatory to the panchayat account.
All financial dealings of the panchayat has come to a grinding halt since May this month and even the panchayat staff was last paid their salaries only for the month March and have not received their wages for the last three months.
The panchayat also decided to issue a show cause notice to Maria Socorina Miranda for getting a construction license from the panchayat by misleading the panchayat and not placing all material facts before it. The panchayat will also conduct a site inspection to verify the true status.
Maria Sucorina Miranda had apparently applied for a construction license to construct a boundary wall in her two properties and the panchayat carried out a site inspection on 6th March 2018 of both the plots and observed that while laterite stones are placed there was no construction undertaken.
The site plan submitted by the party did not show that there existed a cross and a well in the plot where the compound wall was sought to be constructed and the Town and Country Planning Department on 22nd January 2018 gave them a technical clearance to construct the boundary wall provided no traditional access was blocked by it.
On 18th May 2018 on realizing that their access to the community cross that was renovated into a chapel in 1987 after taking permission from Maria Socorina Miranda would be blocked, 12 villagers led by Rodwinson Rodrigues wrote to the panchayat objecting to the license sought by her.
However on 1st June 2018 notwithstanding the fact that a complaint was lodged against the proposed compound wall, the panchayat issued the construction license to the party.
The panchayat called Francisco Ciriaco Joe Coutinho who hold the power of attorney for Maria Socorina Miranda who is presently in the USA for a meeting and subsequently vide another letter dated 17th June 2018 addressed to the owner called her to the panchayat on 21st June 2018 to discuss the complaint received against the proposed compound wall.
The Attorney attended the meeting on 21st June and assured not to construct the compound wall on the Southern and Western side of the property but refused to give it in writing on grounds that he does not have permission from the owners to do so and said the matter would be solved once and for all when the owner comes to Goa.
Following a complaint to the TCP Department, the panchayat has been asked to ensure that the condition of not blocking any traditional access is adhered to by the owners in the matter. Based on all these matter, the panchayat has now decided to issue a show cause notice to the owners to revoke the construction license issued by it.
The panchayat also decided to place the matter of the ambulance kept with it by the local MLA before the gram sabha. “We have to ask the villagers about appointing the staff and what wages to pay them and that is why decided to place the matter at the next gram sabha,” said Acting Sarpanch Vailona Fernandes.
