TEAM HERALD
bureau@herald-goa.com
TIVIM: About 50 residents from Colvale staged a protest rally outside the panchayat office on Thursday morning to demand the demolition of 40 illegal scrap yards in the village.
When the protestors reached the panchayat office, the sarpanch, deputy sarpanch and the panches from the ruling party and the secretary were not present at the office. The villagers then met the Mapusa PI Tushar Vernekar and Joint Mamlatdar, A Prabhudessai, who were present at the site to monitor the law and order situation, to summon the sarpanch or the panchayat secretary to the panchayat office.
The joint mamlatdar then contacted the BDO office at Mapusa and was informed that the secretary was present at the BDO office. The BDO then assured to send the secretary immediately to the Colvale Panchayat to meet the agitating residents.
When the secretary arrived at the panchayat office, the residents submitted a memorandum demanding to know why the 40-odd scrap yards were not demolished in the village, as had been done in Mapusa earlier this week.
The Panchayat Secretary, Rajesh Naik, assured the villagers that some action would be taken within eight days and the matter will also be highlighted in the next gram sabha of the village on February 2. Satisfied by this assurance, the villagers dispersed from the site.
Speaking to Herald, Panch Babani Salgaokar and Tivim BJP Block Vice-President Anand Harmalkar claimed that a notice had been issued to demolish the scrap yards and accused the ruling Panchayat body of moving a resolution not to demolish the scrap yards.
“Till now, no action has been initiated by the Colvale Panchayat against the scrap yards since the last 20 years,” said Harmalkar.
When contacted, Naik showed the Minutes book and said that notices were issued to demolish the scrap yards, following a panchayat body meeting on December 27, 2013.
“However, the ruling body passed a resolution stating that since there had been no illegal constructions demolished in the past, there will be no illegal constructions to be demolished in future,” Naik said.
When asked what action he had taken as a secretary, Naik replied, “I have sent the copy of the minutes to the BDO on January 18, after the minutes were confirmed on January 10.”
However when contacted, Sarpanch Neelam Naik said, “We support the government wholeheartedly and it should demolish the scrap yards, as the panchayat cannot do it.”
Deputy Sarpanch Jaganath Chodankar accused the panchayat secretary of misguiding the villagers.
“We support demolition of scrap yards at Colvale. We had passed a resolution that old illegal houses before our tenure should not be demolished and this resolution was never meant for scrap yards. In fact, we want the scrap yards to be demolished and we are with the villagers and the government in this matter,” he said.
