After Navelim, once again, the citizens of Davorlim Dicarpale have strongly opposed the land survey within the panchayat area during a gram sabha meeting held on Sunday. The Davorlim Dicarpale panchayat has been in cluded in the land survey being conducted in urban areas. A similar attempt was made around ten years ago, which was opposed by the residents at that time as well. During the gram sabha, sarpanch Menino Colaco informed that a notice had been issued by the Direc torate of Settlement and Land Records, and a copy of the same was sent to the panchayat. According to the notice, areas includ ing Margao city along with Aquem, Davorlim, Navelim, Nuvem, Seraulim and Raia have been included in the land survey. The survey will involve measurement of houses and other proper ties. The special gram sabha was convened to inform the residents about this devel opment. Speaking at the meeting, it was stated that the gov ernment has been taking steps to curtail the rights of panchayats. Amendments to the law have granted powers of issuing necessary permissions solely to secre taries. If panchayat areas are merged into municipal limits, it will have serious consequences for the resi dents. Elected panch mem bers would be replaced by councillors, and citizens would be forced to make repeated visits to municipal offices for their work. It was also expressed that if the Floor Space Ratio (FSR) is increased, agricul tural land would be wiped out and the village would be completely destroyed. Following strong oppo sition from the residents, a resolution opposing the land survey was passed in the gram sabha. However, it was noted that no meeting of the panch members had been held prior to the gram sabha. Therefore, it was decided that a meeting of the panch members would be held on January 24, fol lowed by another special gram sabha on February 8, during which a fresh res olution opposing the land survey would be passed, the sarpanch stated. Five panch members were absent from the spe cial gram sabha, which drew objections from some residents. They stated that when the very existence of the village is at stake, the absence of panch members is unacceptable.
