SAMEER UMARYE
It may be a small electoral step for the State government, but elections to the five-member Harvalem panchayat in Bicholim taluka will be a giant political leap for residents of the State’s newest panchayat.
And the number 13 will certainly be auspicious for the residents, as they will get a chance to participate in panchayat elections on July 13, after a gap of 13 years.
“We have not seen local level elections since the last 13 years and I faintly remember having voting for a local candidate way back in 2001,” recalls Samir Malik, who runs a small business in the village.
“It was really difficult for us all these years as we did not have any local representative and we had to run from pillar to post, even to avail of any scheme announced by the government.”
“It was like we were staying in the state of Goa, but were still denied the basic right of having our own local representative who could voice our grievances before the government” Malik added.
Sanquelim and Harvalem have had a chequered history of political changes according to the whims and fancies of politicians.
Having been classified a panchayat since Liberation, Sanquelim was upgraded to a municipality in 1999 and the government appointed an administrator. Stiff public opposition forced the government to reverse its decision and return Sanquelim to its panchayat status in December 2000.
Panchayat elections were declared in April 2001 and the panchayat completed its five year term. Elections to the new panchayat were declared in April 2006, but barely two days before the polls, the government elevated the status of Sanquelim to a municipality and appointed an administrator to the council. Elections to the 10-member Sanquelim municipal council were held in 2008.
Furious with the government’s arbitrary move, residents of Upper Harvalem (which was then ward 1 of Sanquelim) demanded panchayat status for Sanquelim and even threatened to boycott the 2008 polls. The government ignored their warning and went ahead with elections, but all voters of ward 1 retaliated by boycotting the polls in a unique show of solidarity.
Assuming that the protests would fizzle, authorities decided to hold by-elections to the ward after a year. Three candidates filed their nominations, but the vigilant residents of Upper Harvalem thwarted such moves and forced all three candidates to withdraw from the fray.
They demanded that Harvalem should be either given separate panchayat status or should be included in Honda panchayat. Since then the villagers were without any panchayat.
The BJP government finally fulfilled their demand and on February 25, 2013, notified Harvalem panchayat as the 190th panchayat in the State.
In this process, the Sanquelim Municipal Council lost two wards to the newly created five ward Harvalem panchayat, while the remaining eight wards were delimited and turned into 10 wards.
“We have got this right to vote after several years and want to elect a good person who would bring about development in our village which has been negelected for all these years,” says another villager, Vidhyanand Malik.
“All of us are really excited to take part in elections. We will also ask each and everyone from the village to vote this time. At last, we will have our own representative. Besides, the panchayat elections have generated good response as many of them have come forward to file their nominations in all five wards of the panchayat,” Vidhyanand added.
