TEAM HERALD
PANJIM: Sankhali Municipal Council has alleged political interference in the formation of the local Shigmo committee 2015, arguing that even though its committee met all legal requirements, the government ‘chose’ the committee backed by Sankhali MLA Dr Pramod Sawant.
Addressing a press briefing in the capital on Friday, SMC Chairman Dharmesh Saglani accused the government of misusing its power, using pressure tactics and unfair practices in the entire process while demanding de-recognition of the SMC constituted committee.
“For the last six years, SMC has been organizing Shigmotsav. This year too as per the instructions of the government we followed all the procedures and called for meetings involving general public for constituting a committee,” he said.
The date for hosting the annual festival was fixed for March 12.
The Sanquelim Chief Officer was then directed to form a committee and conduct the festival following which an advertisement was issued in a Marathi daily inviting general public of the constituency to be part of the committee. Saglani said that notices were also sent to the MLA’s office as also the councilors. A meeting was thereafter conducted on February 12 when the committee was selected under the leadership of Milind Relekar.
The chairman alleged that MLA Dr Pramod Sawant suddenly called for a meeting to form another parallel committee on February 21, a day after the last date for submitting information about the formation of the committee to the Tourism Department was over.
“After getting this news, we wrote a letter to clarify if the Tourism Department had sent any written communication to the MLA to constitute the Shigmotsav 2015 committee or SMC should be the nodal office for the same. But no reply has come till date,” he alleged.
Further, another meeting was called on February 28 by the Tourism Department which was attended by Chief Officer and SMC committee members to discuss about various issues of the committee. At the meeting, it was informed the government will take a final call about approval of Shigmotsav committees.
Saglani mentioned that another meeting was called on March 5, where both committees were asked to submit various permissions obtained to celebrate Shigmotsav. “Even after following all legal processes religiously, the government did not approve the elected councilors committee of SMC and instead approved the MLA’s committee headed by Dr Saroj Dessai. This practice is non-democratic.”
