Team Herald
PERNEM: Chaos reigned supreme at the Morjim gram sabha over the issues which have remained unsolved for a long time.
At the last gram sabha, villagers had complained against a Russian, who is running bakery, for dumping waste into a natural water body.
The locals said that they had complained to the panchayat on several occasions, but the village body seems not bothered to stop the illegal and harmful activity.
The issue was raised yet again at the Sunday gram sabha to which the panchayat members failed to reply. The locals demanded that the bar located next to Vidhyaprasarak High School, Morjim, be shifted to a new location due to its close proximity to the school and on account of the non-Goan customers frequenting the bar.
A local Shetgaonkar questioned the panchayat as to what development work has been carried by the members in their respective wards to which the panchayat failed to reply.
When the panchayat secretary read out the audit report at the gram sabha, locals asked him how much fund the Panchayat has collected from the hotels located in Morjim. Responding to this, the secretary informed that they are not getting sufficient fund from these hotels and resorts. Angry at the reply, locals demanded revocation of the NOCs given to the hotels since the village is not benefiting from the operation of the hotels.
The villagers also raised the issue of late night parties which start at 7 pm and end the next morning at 7 am. This issue was raised at every gram sabha, but the panchayat stopped the late night parties.
The villagers suggested that a facility be constructed for the benefit of senior citizens on a 4,500 sq mt land and the panchayat office also could be accommodated in the new facility as the current one is located on Devasthan property. The locals urged the panchayat to seek funds from government and start the work on the project, as soon as possible.
Alleging that the recent road widening taken up by the PWD has been left incomplete, a local feared that the same may become deadly for motorists during the monsoon.
Responding to same, the secretary informed that Panchayat has already written to the PWD engineer concern to complete the work before the monsoons.
Issues like panchayat turning a blind eye towards illegal construction in CRZ area and trade licence were also raised at the meeting.
To a question by the villagers whether those shooting films in the village obtain NOC from the panchayat and whether the village administration gets any revenue from the same, the Secretary answered in the negative.
At the end of the meeting, the gram sabha approved a Rs 15,00,000 budget for the financial year 2017-18.
