MARGO: The Navelim gram sabha rejected the offer made by Indus Company to set up a mobile tower on the panchayat building and also failed to constitute the Village Child Development Committee as the persons required to be nominated on the committee were not present for the meeting.
Indus had offered to erect a mobile tower in the panchayat premises and if necessary on the building itself and also offered to pay a rent of Rs. 30,000 per month to the panchayat. While some villagers were in favour of the tower as connectivity is a problem, majority rejected the offer on grounds that the tower would be harmful to the people.
Melwyn Pereira’s proposal not to permit any further expansion of educational institutes till proper planning is undertaken and parking issues are sorted out was discussed at length as traffic congestion due to the presence of four educational institutes in close proximity was a major problem at the church square.
There are two high schools, one higher secondary school and one college situated in close proximity at the Navelim church square and the teachers and staff of these institutes use the public parking space for nearly the whole day causing a major problem for other people.
Some villagers initially suggested that the area around Corporation Bank premises be declared no parking zone through an order of the Collector. However, this was rejected by the majority people present.
It was finally decided to approach the parish priest to give some land belonging to the church that could be developed as a parking lot only for the staff of the educational institutes as with the exception of one high school all other educational institutes are managed by the church.
The proposal to allot space for senior citizens who can be provided entertainment and a meeting place under UMMID was accepted by the gram sabha given the fact that the panchayat has enough of space.
As the minutes of the previous meeting were read wherein it was decided to levy a fine on people found dumping garbage by the roadside, the villagers today amended the same and asked the panchayat to prepare a chart of fines that would be levied depending upon the quantum of garbage dumped.
The Village Child Development Committee that was scheduled to be constituted could not be finalized as two children below the age of 18 years have to be members of the committee and there was no villager present for the gram sabha below the age of 18 years.
