Since the last five years, the Keri village panchayat has witnessed no specific development but a tug of war for the hot seat – sarpanch’s post.
In the five years, four panchas were elected to the post of sarpanch and it’s this instability has poked spokes in the path of development in the panchayat area.
The nine-member panchayat has Mahesh Gawas as sarpanch, Nurun B.Karol as deputy sarpanch, Sameer Govekar, Padmavati Hularnkar, Chandrakant Gawas, Ganu Gawas, Sameer Naik, Jivbarao Rane, Namrata Kerkar as panchas.
The political instability is evident by the fact that in the last five years Jivbarao Rane, Chandrakant Gawas ,Ganu Gawas and Mahesh Gawas were elected as sarpanch but have failed miserably on the development front. The panchayat is faced with main issues such as lack of clean and filtered water, no crematorium and to add to its woes the traffic congestion is a regular feature in the market area.
The locals have been expecting a solution to the above issues but nothing has happened. Only resolutions have passed by panchayat body and the main issue of crematorium, which has been a long pending demand of the locals, is not yet fulfilled. The issue of providing filtered water to the village is also pending and Poriem MLA Pratapsingh Rane had shown interest in resolving the same and a proposal was sent to PWD, which is yet to be sanctioned.
Ankush Gawas, a senior citizens says, “The panchayat is least bothered on the issue of providing filtered water to the village since the last five years. People are unhappy with lethargic attitude on the part of the panchayat. Despite repeated requests to the panchayat to provide clean water, the water project at Keri is still in the pipeline. We have been receiving dirty water from the taps and have been demanding filters but nothing has happened. The panchayat has given only empty promises.”
When contacted for his comment on the issues affecting the locals, Sarpanch Mahesh Gawas says “It is not possible to undertake the big issue without the support of the government. I took charge as sarpanch only four months ago and now with the election code of conduct in force, no developmental project can be taken up. I fully admit that issues such as lack of clean and filtered water and crematorium are affecting the people, which are yet to be solved.”
