MARGAO
Four opposition panchayat members of the Raia village panchayat on Thursday sat on a dharna to protest over an alleged incident when the Curtorim MLA Reginaldo Lourenco allegedly reprimanded a panchayat staff member at the MLA’s office.
Reginaldo, however, demanded to know whether any of the staff members have complained that he or she has been reprimanded by him, saying the four panchayat members had opposed him in the last Assembly election and expect them to oppose him again in the next election.
The four panchayat members led by former Sarpanch Xavier Fernandes alleged that village Sarpanch Peter Quadros had taken a panchayat staffer to the MLA’s office over some office matter in violation of the rules. Alleging that MLA Reginaldo had reprimanded and pulled up the staff member at his office, Xavier demanded to know how come the MLA interferes in the affairs of the panchayat body.
“If there was any issue with the staff members, there were other ways of dealing with the matter by complaining to the BDO or the Panchayat Director. Certainly, the sarpanch had no right to take the staff member to the MLA’s office to be reprimanded by the MLA,” he said.
Xavier demanded that the village Panchayat Secretary should immediately report the behaviour of the sarpanch to the panchayat higher authorities.
MLA Reginaldo, however, demanded to know whether any staff member of the Raia panchayat has levelled an allegation of harassment against him. Saying he has never interfered in the functioning of the village panchayats in Curtorim constituency, the Independent MLA said he has never done any dictatorship in the constituency.
“These same members had opposed me in the Assembly election. They are unfit people because I have won the election despite their opposition. I am giving them four years to come and fight against me in the next elections,” he said.
Meanwhile, Congress leader Moreno Rebello along with Curtorim block Congress president Mila Fernandes called on the four opposition panchayat members to extend their solidarity with them.
