Reginaldo assures residents
MARGAO, AUG 22
Raia villagers on Sunday opposed setting up of the proposed Kabrastan in the village, even as the gram sabha demanded return of the village land admeasuring 30,000 square meters acquired by the Margao Municipal council for garbage dumping.
Even as the villagers firmly opposed the proposed burial grounds in the village, local MLA Reginaldo Lourenco assured the villagers at the Sunday gram sabha that the burial grounds for the Muslim community is coming up in neighbouring Margao city.
The MLA was specifically invited for today’s meeting following queries raised in many quarters in the village over the exact location of the Kabrastan. “The Kabrastan is coming up on the land falling in the jurisdiction of Margao Municipal Council and not in Raia”, Lourenco told the gram Sabha members.
The Sunday gram Sabha meeting also resolved to oppose the proposed Shiroda-Rachol bridge, apprehending that the bridge has been proposed only to benefit mining traffic.
On the 30,000 square meters of land acquired by the Civic body a decade and half ago for garbage dumping, gram Sabha members said the land in question falls in a eco-sensitive zone and demanded that the Margao Municipality return the land to the villagers.
Sarpanch Savio Gomes said the gram Sabha has unanimously passed a resolution demanding the return of the acquired land back to the village. He said the villagers are not averse in compensating the Margao Municipality for the land acquisition.
Local activist Xavier said that the villagers have made it amply clear that they will not sit quite and watch the eco-sensitive zone destroyed by the authorities for projects. He strongly demanded the return of the land acquired by the Margao Municipal council at Sonsodo back to the village.
The meeting witnessed an uproar after the Sarpanch decided to wind up the meeting on grounds that business mentioned on the agenda stands transacted.
This led to an uproar with members drawing attention of the Sarpanch that many of their questions remained unanswered and questioned his rationale behind abruptly concluding the meeting.
Commenting on the episode, the Sarpanch said the meeting was concluded within the time frame, adding that questions sought by the members will be made available to them within a period of eight days.
Gram Sabha member, Joseph Rodrigues, however, begged to differ. He said the Sarpanch is not following the right procedure by asking the members to collect the answers from the Panchayat.
“The procedure followed by the Sarpanch is not legal”, he added.
