Team Herald
MARGAO: The Guirdolim gram sabha turned violent and had to be abruptly adjourned as one panchayat member was hurt following an altercation with one gram sabha member. A police complaint was lodged subsequently.
Trouble broke out when former Sarpanch and present panch Sonia Fernandes sought to tell the villagers that the panchayat body did not take her into confidence while issuing the construction license for a person to erect a mobile tower in his property.
She disclosed that at the panchayat body meeting she had objected to erecting the tower in residential area and it was decided that if the villagers demand the tower then it would be permitted. “The panchayat claims to have got a demand but it was never shown to me and I was not taken into confidence,” she said.
However, this infuriated some locals who began shouting at her and accused her of objecting to everything even as the deputy Sarpanch revealed that the panchayat had received a memorandum signed by 56 people demanding the tower.
The discussion became heated with some villagers gathering at the table and shouting loudly. There was banging of the table and one villager reportedly pushed the microphone stand which was falling on Sonia Dias who ducked and the stand hit her chin causing abrasion.
Even as some local youth pushed the villager away from the table and took him out of the meeting room, Sarpanch Melisha Carvalho adjourned the meeting.
Earlier the gram sabha resolved that the panchayat shall issue a construction license to Gold Shield Company to construct a compound wall only after the firm gifts to the panchayat around 9000 sq mts of land for a football ground.
The company has reportedly developed 31 plots in an area of 6,000 square metres of which 25 are already sold and the firm now wants to enclose the entire area with a compound wall.
It was resolved that to construct a better panchayat ghar with a community hall and some shops by using the Rs. 1.5 crore offered by the government under the Din Dayal Scheme. The panchayat would inspect various spots suggested by the villagers and decide where to construct the new building.
The issue of the panchayat stopping garbage collection was raised by a villager but was not discussed at all and the panchayat members along with the Garbage Management Committee agreed to inspect one plot of the panchayat where the cage to hold the collected garbage would be kept.
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Police on lookout for Tony Dias
MARGAO: Maina Curtorim Police on lookout for Tony Dias, the Guirdolim resident, who allegedly injured panch Sonia Dias e Fernandes. On receiving a complaint from Sonia, police rushed to Guirdolim to nab Tony, but did not find him at home as he reportedly went into hiding. Police have registered a case for causing injury and also for obstructing a public official from carrying out her duty as the complainant is a panchayat member. Tony is booked under Sections 353 and 323 of IPC. According to Sonia, Tony Dias picked the microphone stand to hit her but as she ducked, the stand hit her on the chin causing her injury. The medical report confirmed that she had abrasion on her chin. The incident occurred during the Guirdolim gram sabha today that turned very vociferous towards the end and had to be abruptly adjourned.
