MARGAO: Villagers of Chinchinim Deussua refused to discuss the budget at the gram sabha held on Sunday as the Sarpanch Inacinha Rebello said it was being read for information of the villagers and discussed at length the garbage menace and specially how the panchayat was helping a villager who had made garbage collection a business.
The gram sabha that was held after a gap of five months given the fact that the last gram sabha was held on March 3 wasted two hours in reading and confirming the minutes of the last gram sabha and presenting the action taken report on resolutions adopted at the last gram sabha.
The gram sabha began on a stormy note as the villagers refused to confirm the minutes of the last meeting since they were incomplete and not properly concluded and the present secretary said she could not correct the minutes written by some other secretary.
Finally after 20 minutes discussion the matter was resolved with the gram sabha resolving that the correction be recorded in the present minutes while a note be made in pencil in the minutes of the previous gram sabha that there is a correction.
The problem caused by Michael Berry D’Costa and his brother Bosco D’Costa was discussed at length with Savio Lopes, a villager pointing out that the village funds were being used to clear the garbage gathered by the two brothers who sold the recyclable plastic and left the waste for the villagers to deal with.
Savio also alleged that some influential person had called the then secretary and asked him to write the letter to Solid Waste Management Corporation to give the impression that it was panchayat’s garbage and not that of one individual.
Incidentally, six of the panchayat members present for the gram sabha admitted to the call and that the secretary had told them that but the Sarpanch stoutly denied such a thing happening. A villager in fact asked her to resign as she could not answer anything and remained silent most of the time.
The Sarpanch while disclosing that the brothers have paid the fine of Rs. 25,000 levied on them said the panchayat has spent around Rs. 80,000 on the labourers used to clear the garbage they had collected and Rs. 27,000 on plastic bags to clear the garbage.
“We have sent him a notice to pay this amount which he has accepted but not responded to and shortly we shall issue him a demand note,” she said even as Savio pointed out that the panchayat had not conducted any survey to note how much garbage they have lifted and how much is there.
Various people participated in this discussion where the panchayat was also grilled why a special advocate was not appointed to file a special case against the D’Costa brothers for the nuisance they have caused. At the last gram sabha it was resolved to appoint a special advocate they pointed out while the panchayat said they have handed over the matter to the panchayat’s standing advocate.
Finally it was decided to cap the remaining garbage dump as directed by the Block Development Officer and next step to be taken after the monsoon.
When the panchayat sought to discuss the budget the villagers objected specially as the Sarpanch said it was being read for their information and Savio pointed out that as per the law the budget had to be approved by the Gram Sabha.
