TEAM HERALD
MARGAO: An overwhelming majority of hands went up at the gram sabha of Curtorim on Sunday in support of the demand of the villagers to scrap the controversial 85-room hotel project in the village.
Only 10 gram sabha members raised their hands in support of the hotel project at a meeting which witnessed pandemonium, prompting the police to enter the meeting hall to cool down frayed tempers and avoid any untoward incident.
The gram sabha also unanimously adopted a resolution opposing multi housing project and to also oppose the Talak construction project. Member Abijit Prabhudesai moved the resolution opposing multi housing or any other such projects in the village, stating that there was scarcity of land for housing for locals; need to preserve eco-sensitive areas in village for posterity and that village does not have the necessary infrastructure to support multi housing and hotel projects.
Gram sabha members also adopted a resolution demanding that the sarpanch write to the chief minister with a plea to amend the law that he file in respect of constructions in villages be routed through the respective village panchayat instead of the TCP. Further a resolution was also adopted to challenge the order passed by the additional director of panchayats with contribution of villagers in respect of the Talak Construction project. Villagers informed sarpanch Rosy Paes that they were ready to collect funds to file an appeal in case of Talak construction after the panchayat informed that it was facing fund constraints to appeal before the district court to challenge the order passed by additional director of panchayat.
Resolution was adopted demanding that the committee appointed by the central Ministry of Forest and Environment recently to bring about change in laws should visit various village panchayats and explain to gram sabhas on the proposed changes in the law before making any changes. Temper ran high when gram sabha members accused the panchayat members as well as the MLA of amassing wealth, which drew strong reaction from the panch members, who challenged the gram sabha members to prove charges made against them even as the MLA requested villagers not to wash dirty linen at the meet.
