Team Herald
VASCO: The Sancoale gram sabha witnessed stormy discussions, which began with accusations and rebuttals over alleged corruption regarding collecting waste in the village, over the last five months.
A decision to file a police complaint for proper investigation of the fire incident at the panchayat’s material recovery facility (MRF) was taken. Another crucial decision taken was to not have any written communication with Zuari Agro Chemicals until the company has cleared all their pending arrears.
Senior panch Tulshidas Naik presided over the meeting in the absence of Sarpanch Rohini Toraskar and Deputy Sarpanch Girish Pillay. The meeting had a tense atmosphere right from the start, and the police had to intervene to maintainpeace several times.
Former Sarpanch Narayan Naik behaved aggressively as he felt he was not being allowed to speak. There was also a heated argument when panch Santosh Desai stood up and started talking when Tulshidas Naik was already in the middle of his explanation. After the sabha, Tulshidas Naik said that discussion mostly revolved around collection of garbage.
“Locals have asked to lay the foundation for a new panchayat building soon. Chicalim and Cortalim panchayats do not pay a single paisa to the waste collecting contractor, but Sancoale panchayat does. The contractor also takes money from people while collecting the garbage but never deposits it in the panchayat’s treasury.
The panchayat’s material recovery facility caught fire around five months ago and although the sarpanch or deputy sarpanch should have filed the complaint, someone else has done it,” said Naik.
“There has been some discrepancy even with the muster role and it needs to be enquired. Zuari Agro Chemicals Ltd has sold the factory to some other company and the documents bear forged signatures,” alleged Naik.
