MERCES, AUG 2
Chimbel gram sabha on Sunday witnessed uproarious scenes over the issue of postponement of the meeting with one group of villagers in favour and the other group against it.
It all began at the start of gram sabha when Govind Shirodkar of Chimbel highlighted the non-availability of space, since huge crowd had gathered for the meeting. He requested that the gram sabha meeting be shifted elsewhere to accommodate all the villagers.
However, Chimbel Sarpanch Chandrakant Kunkolkar was in no mood to listen and informed that he would consider the proposal for the next meeting and also directed Shirodkar not to speak out of turn.
However, this did not go down well with the majority of the members present and there was commotion as allegations and counter-allegations were levelled among the villagers and the sarpanch.
After some time, the gram sabha was again convened with Panchayat Secretary Babu Naik going through the proceedings as per the agenda.
At this point, St Cruz MLA Victoria Fernandes made her appearance at the gram sabha and the sarpanch informed that after the agenda was over, she would address the villagers and listen to their grievances.
As the agenda neared the end, the last point was taken up for discussion, any proposal received from the public.
However, Shirodkar, Tukaram and other villagers again objected and said that the gram sabha should not proceed any further as many villagers, who had gathered for the meeting, are unable to hear anything that was said and it would be grave injustice to them as the points that would be raised concern all the villagers.
The sarpanch again reiterated that he would not allow the gram sabha meeting to be postponed and that if he does not receive any proposal from the public, he would order that the gram sabha has ended.
At this point, MLA Victoria Fernandes pitched in favour of the sarpanch and questioned how the villagers could ask for postponement of the meeting, when it has neared completion.
She also informed that the villagers could have asked for postponement at the beginning of the meeting itself. However, the villagers informed her that they had demanded it before the start of the meeting, but to no avail.
As the villagers continued rooting for postponement of the meeting, the MLA said that some people among the gathering are hell bent in opposing everything, instead of co-operating with the panchayat for the betterment of the village.
The statement further infuriated the villagers, who grew more vocal in pressing their demand.
It was only after MLA Fernandes conceded that the will of the people should prevail and the meeting should be postponed, that the situation was brought under control.
However, the sarpanch informed the villagers that he would first consult the BDO before taking any decision in the matter.
Earlier, the situation appeared to be going out of control as two groups of villagers were on the verge of clashing with each other. However, the presence of the police avoided any untoward incident.
Also, after the meeting ended, a large number of policemen were posted near the panchayat to keep things under control, as the villagers refused to disperse from the area and were seen leveling allegations against the panchayat.
