MARGAO
Winds of instability seemed blowing again at the Aquem-Baixo village panchayat.
The nine-member panchayat body already had three sarpanchas presiding over the affairs since the last two years. Thursday saw five members moving a no-trust motion against incumbent Sarpanch Floriano Danny Fernandes, barely five months after he was declared elected as the sarpanch on August 28 last year.
The five signatories to the motion comprising of Inacio Dias, Pooja Naik, Avinash Sardesai, Deputy Sarpanch Natasha Dias and Amisha Tilve has charged the sarpanch for lack of transparency and accountability in the functioning of the village panchayat. “The sarpanch has also failed to ensure fair allocation of resources and failed in the decision making process, besides communication with other panchayat members and the public,” the signatories stated in the notice of no-trust motion.
They have requested the Block Development Officer, Salcete to convene a special general body meeting of the panchayat under section 51(2) of the Goa Panchayat Raj Act, 1994 to discuss the no confidence motion.
Floriano Danny Fernandes was elected as the Aquem-Baixo sarpanch on August 28 last year after he won the election via draw of lots. Both Floriano and his rival Pooja Naik had polled four votes each and the tie had to be decided via draw of lots, which went in favour of Floriano.
So far, the Aquem-Baixo panchayat had three sarpanchas during the current panchayat term, beginning with Avinash Sardesai, who was voted out of office in a no-confidence motion. He was succeeded by Pradeep Acharya, but he put in his papers from the post due to personal reasons.
