PORVORIM
The issue of football ground was discussed very hotly in the gram sabha of Saligao panchayat held on Sunday.
The sarpanch of Saligao Panchayat Lucus Remedios mentioned that the football ground is the need of the hour for the football lovers of Saligao. The Saligao villagers have been demanding a good football ground for the last several years.
"The former MLA Jayesh Salgaonkar when he was RDA minister had taken initiative in developing a good football ground and had approached the Comunidade of Saligao for the allotment of land for the same. Saligao comunidade had issued an NOC on April 22, 2015 and again on October 17, 2018 for the development of ground in fields in survey no. 16 subdivision no.7, 8,10,11,12 and 13. The payments to the tenants in these fields were also made," Remedios said.
"Based on this NOC the Saligao panchayat processed the file and sent it to the District Rural Development agency. The DRDA granted technical sanction on December 17, 2021 for the development of the ground at an estimated expenditure of Rs 24,11,560. Due to Covid, the work of the development of the ground received a setback. Now the entire procedure has been completed and the work order for the same will be issued shortly.
"Now the comunidade of Saligao has sent a letter on January 7, 2023 to Saligao Panchayat stating that NOC issued by them on October 17, 2018 for the development of the ground has been revoked for the reasons that the timeframe for the development of the football ground has expired and no compensation has been paid to the comunidade by the panchayat," the Sarpanch said.
Hearing the statement of the Sarpanch, the villagers got furious and there was chaos in the gram sabha. The sarpanch and other panch members pacified the villagers who demanded that the Panchayat should discard this letter and go ahead with the project as RDA has granted technical sanction for the project and the work order is in the pipeline.
The villagers said that office bearers of the Saligao comunidade do not appear to be interested in the development of the village and hence panchayat should not give much importance to the office bearers of the comunidade.
Earlier, panchayat secretary P Bhonsle read out the minutes of the last gram sabha. Sarpanch Lucus Remedios welcomed the gathering and Dy Sarpanch Utkarsha Kundaikar proposed a vote of thanks.
