People left disappointed as Chimbel meet ends abruptly
HERALD CORRESPONDENT
MERCES, MAY 2
A large number of Chimbel locals who had turned out for the gram sabha meeting to discuss and solve their problems had to return disappointed, as Sarpanch Chandrakant Kunkolkar abruptly ended the meeting when two groups of villagers created a commotion, which showed no signs of dying down.
The presence of police force could also not calm down the situation as one group was particularly aggressive over a derogatory comment made by a villager from the other group, and demanded that the meeting should be immediately ended.
The trouble began when Tukaram Kunkolkar of Chimbel Gram Seva Kala ani Sanskrutik Sangh (CGSKSS) discussed the issue of lack of basic infrastructure in the village and how mega housing projects are putting an additional burden on the already crumbling infrastructure, thereby denying the locals the first right to the basic necessities.
Elaborating further, Kunkolkar said water woes are not solved, power problems are multiplying and garbage woes continue to haunt the villagers, with no solution in sight to all these problems.
To highlight the same, some members of CGSKSS then displayed a banner which contained pictures of the problems facing the village like unattended garbage, mega housing projects, deforestation, multiplying slums, etc.
However, the displaying of the banner did not go down well with the other group of villagers who demanded that it should be immediately removed. But, as CGSKSS members continued to display the banner, a commotion began among both the groups as one villager alleged that the other group is deliberately trying to disrupt the proceedings of the gram sabha and that too under the influence of alcohol.
The remark angered the other group of villagers, who then created a commotion and demanded that the gram sabha should not be allowed to proceed further and that it should be immediately ended.
When Herald questioned Sarpanch Chandrakant why he ended the meeting when there were many proposals left to be discussed, he said the situation was turning volatile and he did not want to allow the situation to go out of control. He further said since most of the points on the agenda were already discussed, he was within his rights to end the meeting to tide over the situation.
However, the drama did not go down well with many villagers who had come to discuss their genuine problems. A villager Dina Bandodkar, in fact, lamented that the meeting was ended abruptly and feared that in the near future, such unruly crowd would take advantage of frivolous situations and hijack the gram sabha.
Paul Fernandes said the police could have done more than being just mute spectators and should have thrown out the villagers who were causing disturbances.
He further stated that the police utterly failed in using their powers to discharge their duties. “The police were brought to ensure that the gram sabha was conducted in a peaceful manner,” Paul said and added that inaction on their part resulted in the abrupt end of the meeting.
But, an Old Goa police official begged to differ and said their main task was to maintain law and order at the gram sabha and that they were successful in doing so.
When questioned why they didn’t throw out the trouble makers, the police official said if the sarpanch had directed them, they would have done so. He further said since the two groups were involved in verbal discussion, the police could only wait and watch, as at no point of time did a situation arose of any physical assault taking place.
“If the police had sensed any cognizable offence taking place, then we would have used our rights and taken custody of the individuals,” the police official said, who however did not wished to be named.
