Team Herald
CANACONA: In the wake of the boycott of all elections declared during the last general elections by the villagers of Marle-Thirwal over lack of basic infrastructural facilities in the village, South Goa Collector along with Deputy Collector and Mamlatdar of Canacona visited the villagers to convince them to vote during the forthcoming Zilla Panchayat elections.
He assured them that the road to their village will be completed before the monsoon.
It may be recalled that the villagers of Marle-Thirwal having 221 eligible voters had entirely boycotted the last general elections held on April 23, last year.
The villagers were upset over the fact that the promises given before the elections to solve their issues were never fulfilled.
The village elders had also threatened that they will not partake in any future election process till the 2.9km mud approach road to the village is properly tarred with bitumen and stone aggregates.
Now with ZP elections fast approaching, Collector Ajit Roy along with with Canacona Deputy Collector Pritidas Gaonkar, Mamlatdar Vimod Dalal, PWD AE Internal Roads Elvis Fernandes visited the villagers on Friday evening.
The grievances put forth by the villagers to the visiting officials included tarring of the 2.9km approach road, erection of a mobile tower, underground electricity cabling, piped water supply and plying of bus twice in a day.
After patiently listening to their grievances, the collector assured those present that the hot-mixing of the road will be completed before the monsoon while also assuring them that their other demands will also be taken up subsequently.
About 100 villagers together with tribe leaders and Poinguinim Village Panchayat Sarpanch Jagdish Gaonkar, who is a resident of Thirwal attended the meeting and assured the collector that they will vote during the coming ZP elections.
