Not enough solutions for Mayem's many problems

The famous song ‘Ya Ya Mayem Ya’ has enthralled many hearts and lingers still today even as this small village is struggling to restore its former glory.

Mayem panchayat has several issues including custodian property, mining and the recent one of illegal bars. The panchayat with 11 wards is always in the news and most of the gram sabhas are always stormy.

Close to Bicholim the panchayat shares its boundaries with the city. The issue of custodian property has always been in the forefront and the resident feel that they are still to get their freedom and ownership of land. The issue dates back from 1816, when the colonial rulers confiscated virtually the entire village admeasuring 3,773 hectares from the Mayem Communidade.

The BJP government was able to resolve this issue to some extent but the villagers, especially the Mayem Bhoo Vimochan Nagrik Kruti Samiti (MBVNKS) who have been fighting for the rights of the locals are not totally satisfied.

The sanads of their land was given to some few villagers but there are many who are still left out. “The process of giving sanads is going on at a very slow pace we demand with the government to speed it up so that the villagers get their rights,” said Chandrakant Pednekar, president of MBVNKS.

The villagers are not only confronted with custodian issue but also with mining pollution that has affected the local farmers as silt has found its way into their fields. 

The farmers have been crying foul over this and have time and again demanded for compensation. They have gone from pillar to post with their demands and have also threatened to stop the transportation of the recently auctioned ore through the village.

“There is a circular issued by the central government, which clearly states that any road that goes through the village should not be used for mining ore transportation. We will oppose the movement till our demands are met,” added Sakharam Pedenkar, a local farmer. 

It is not just the fields that have suffered damaged because of mining but several of the lakes have also been affected due to the residual silt. 

The villagers have repeatedly reported the matter to the authorities and the mining company but no action was initiated.

While these are some of the issues that have been around for several years and continue to remain unresolved, there are some other issues wherein the villagers took a firm stand against such problems. 

The villagers claim that in this small village there are more than 60 bars and they emphasize on the fact that they do not require any more bars in the village.

Kamlakant Tari who has been spearheading the movement against bars, informed that no NOCs have been given to any bar in the village since the year 2003 because of the strong opposition from the villagers. 

“We have a population of about 12,000 and there are 60 bars and now majority of the villagers do not want any more bars. We strongly demand that even some of the illegal bars should be closed down” Tari added.

The issue of bars has rocked several gram sabhas and the villagers, especially the women were seen strongly opposing the move to give new licenses to bars. Recently there was a plan to issue a license to a person with orders from seniors from panchayat department but the alert villagers strongly opposed the same. 

“We want to ask the government whether they are trying to instigate the villagers by issuing such orders through higher authorities. The gram sabha is against issuing of NOCs to any more bars and if any such order is issued in the future, then the government will have to face the consequences,” Tari stated further.

 “The main opposition against the bars is because there are many youth and families who have suffered because of alcohol addiction. There are also many widows in the village because of this vice and we do not want any more bars in the village, “said another villager, Sakharam Pedenkar.

Another concern in the area is the non-inclusion of locals in the tourism development around the lake. 

“The village is famous for its lake and the government has already invested several lakhs in renovating the area but the local shopkeepers feel that they were totally sidelined. We had demanded with the tourism department to allocate us kiosks outside the gate of the lake but in spite of assurance given to us, nothing has happened” said a shopkeeper, Karbotkar told.