TEAM HERALD
OLD GOA: Concerned over the continuous absence of panchas for the gram sabha meetings, Santa Cruz villagers demanded disqualification of a panch if he or she remains absent for three consecutive gram sabha meetings.
Raking up the issue on Sunday, Renato Dias said the said panchas should then not be allowed to contest future elections.
Supporting Dias, other villagers also opined that if a panch can be disqualified if he or she fails to attend three consecutive panchayat meetings, then the same rule should be applied if a panch fails to attend three consecutive gram sabha meetings.
“The Panchayat Raj Act should be amended to this effect,” a villager further demanded.
The issue of lack of village development due to non-availability of funds was also discussed hotly with Peter Gonsalves citing that the house tax arrears itself comes to around Rs 30 lakh.
“If other arrears are added up, then the total tax arrears touch Rs 40 lakh,” Gonsalves informed and urged the panchayat authorities to issue notices to the defaulters. “If the panchayat is able to collect even half of the total tax arrears, then the fund will be more than enough for undertaking development in the village,” he added.
Gonsalves then castigated the panchayat for spending unnecessary money in fighting legal cases. “In many cases, there is no need for the panchayat to become a party to the same,” he informed while adding that it is high time that the panchayat authorities choose which cases to fight.
“In certain cases, the panchayat can come to an amicable solution,” he said and urged the panchayat authorities to henceforth consult the gram sabha on which cases to fight and which cases not to fight.
“This way the panchayat will be able to save a lot of fund, which otherwise would have been spent on lawyers,” he added.
The issue of encroachment of open spaces was also discussed with former sarpanch Vincent Lourenco citing a case where a villager has encroached into an open space.
“I have already urged the panchayat not to support such encroachments,” Lourenco said but added that the said villager is mustering support from other panchas to get his encroachment regularized.
Later, the villagers urged the panchayat to look into the matter and take action accordingly. The villagers also requested the panchayat authorities to approach business houses in the village, particularly banks, to develop open spaces in the village.
“The business houses have a social responsibility to give something back to the village,” a villager opined.
