MARGAO: Condemning the panchayat director’s move to cancel the Any Other Business (AOB) from the gram sabha agenda, Varca villagers on Sunday demanded that the same be revoked and castigated the contractor over the non-functional of streetlights in the village.
The villagers approved the surplus budget of Rs 2,26,25,000 including the opening balance of Rs 1,24,55,000. The total receipts including the opening balance was Rs 2,64,92,000 and the total expenditure was projected at Rs 38,67,000.
The major receipts expected from house tax, were projected at Rs 12 lakh including taxes from the hotels in the village. Grants from the government to manage garbage were projected at only Rs 1 lakh and the expenditure on garbage management was put at Rs 5,17,000.
The gram sabha approved the Annual Development Plan for 2018-19 and the Annual Accounts of 2017-18.
However, as there was no correspondence, the villagers objected to the cancellation of the “Any Other Business” from the gram sabha agenda and resolved to urge the government to revoke the same on grounds that often there are some urgent matters that need to be discussed at the gram sabha and cannot be given in writing to the panchayat.
The villagers pointed out that the streetlights were not working and most often damaged fixtures were not replaced.
Sarpanch Roland Fernandes explained that the panchayat has nothing to do with the streetlights, as the service has been outsourced by the government. The villagers expressed their resentment on the new arrangement and pointed out that earlier when the streetlights were managed by the panchayat, at least the damaged fixtures were replaced quickly. Now, with the present arrangement, the contact number of the concerned authority does not work and when it works, the complaints are not attended to.
The panchayat was requested to write to the Electricity Department and the Director of Panchayat expressing the villagers’ objection to the new arrangement and demanded that the panchayat be given the charge to replace streetlight fixtures as was done in the past.
