MARGAO: Chaotic scenes were witnessed at the Sao Jose de Areal Panchayat gram sabha with villagers and panchas trading serious charges against each other.
As the situation turned volatile, a posse of policemen descended at the panchayat premises to maintain law and order and prevent the situation from going out of hand.
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Heated discussions were witnessed over the annual budget and as tempers ran high, the meeting was suspended by the Sarpanch Linda Fernandes as she claimed that she was verbally abused by a member. The members however alleged that the panchayat was sidelining important development issues by them.
It is pertinent to note that for the last several occasions, gram sabha of this panchayat has been witnessing stormy scenes. Villagers have been continuously alleging that the panchayat body is not serious on the issues related to the village and proposals put forward are sidelined.
At the last gram sabha, the panchayat had come under fire for allegedly neglecting the needs of the village and after the chaos, the sarpanch notified adjourned the meeting to May 14.
On Sunday too villagers have claimed that the panchayat has been deliberately sidestepping important issues such as the proposals related to their village.
Freddy Travasso, Peter Viegas and several other villagers charged that the panchayat was not considering the proposals put forward towards village development.
Speaking to the media, Travaso stated that after hue and cry, finally discussion on annual budget was held on Sunday, however, the panchayat failed to show interest in the proposals of the villagers.
“It has been proven that the deputy sarpanch was telling lies pertaining to the passing of the budget, wherein he had earlier stated that the budget had been passed. Even few other elected members agreed that the budget was neither passed at the executive meeting nor at the last gram sabha”, he stated.
Travasso, also informed that villagers demand of video recording of gram sabha was not accepted by the panchayat.
Villagers have now decided to meet the block development officer in order to raise their voice against the panchayat pertaining to conducting the gram sabha in an undemocratic manner, informed villagers.
