VALPOI: Guleli villagers on Sunday took to task the panchayat body over various illegalities and lack of cell phone connectivity in the village, during the gram sabha that witnessed heated arguments.
The meeting was attended by over 200 villagers.
As soon as the meeting commenced, the villagers raised the issue of illegal sand extraction from Mhadei River and illegal laterite stone quarrying in the village. They said that these illegalities are continuing since past one decade, despite the several complaints to the department concerned.
“The illegal sand mining activities are going on at Mhadei River and laterite stones are illegally quarried in Guleli since past one decade, but no one is taking action against these illegalities, despite several complaints. Now we demand that the panchayat body take action on this,” a villager Ajit Desai demanded.
“The panchayat is telling us every time that it does not have funds for development work. If so, why does it allow illegal sand mining and stone quarrying in Guleli village? questioned another villager Ashish Naik.
Raising the issue of lack of cell phone connectivity, the villagers demanded that more cell phone towers be erected in the panchayat area since the existing two towers were inadequate to cover the village. The villagers claimed that 99 percent of the villagers were in favour of more mobile towers while only one family has been opposing it for its own gain.
According to the villagers, while the panchayat wants the towers erected on its properties so that it can earn revenue, one family wants the tower erected on its private property for generating income. It is this one family that is opposing erection of more cell phone towers, the villagers alleged.
“All villagers have already given a written memorandum to the panchayat for erecting more cell phone towers. But only one family is opposing the towers in panchayat area. We demand action on that family because it is opposing the towers for its own gains. They want to make money from the tower company by installing the tower on its own property,” a gram sabha member Diptesh Naik said.
After angry outbursts by the villagers, the panchayat promised to take the action against illegal sand mining and laterite stone quarrying.
