PONDA: The five-member Volvoi panchayat located in Priol constituency has been without a sarpanch for some time but staunch BJP supporter and the Deputy Sarpanch Digambar Tari, who was the acting sarpanch in the interim period, has resigned.
While this leaves the panchayat without a sarpanch and deputy, it’s also an embarrassment to BJP, as Tari, who addressed media persons on Friday, lambasted the BJP and the BJP-led government during his resignation.
He said he has taken this decision as a mark of protest against the State government’s failure to bring about development in Volvoi panchayat.
Tari said it has been almost two years and four months since the panchayat has seen any development.
Stating he has been a BJP supporter since 1998 and actively working for the party, he claimed that there appears to be no control over the party’s functioning since the demise of former Chief Minister (late) Manohar Parrikar.
He also lamented that the party has stopped giving importance to senior party workers like him in this new post-Parrikar era.
He further alleged that all the proposed development works of previous tenures in Volvoi panchayat have been stopped over the past two and a half years.
“The government has not been paying any attention to our appeals. I am tired of constantly trying to follow up with them,” he added.
Continuing his tirade against the BJP, he said the government was making false claims that it was for the bahujans. “If this is the case, then how come the house of Bahujan Devanand Bhomkar was demolished? I had requested the government to reconstruct this seventy-year-old house but it was demolished. The government failed to provide shelter for Bhomkar too,” he added.
Speaking about the Priol MLA Govind Gaude who is also a cabinet minister, he said Gaude has been cooperating with the panchayat. “But how can he (Gaude) launch development works if the government doesn’t sanction funds,” Tari quipped.
Listing out the pending development works, Tari referred to the proposed Rs 2.5 crore internal road works. “As the acting and deputy sarpanch and also a BJP worker, people from the village have been questioning me and the panchayat and I have no answer to give them. What is the use then of enjoying the chair of sarpanch,” Tari added.
