MARGAO
It’s official. The Colva panchayat will honour FDA officer, Iva Fernandes, who was instrumental in exposing the use of the banned formalin to preserve fish imported into the State and which was sold in the wholesale fish market in July last.
The FDA officer, who had later complained of harassment meted out to her by the department, will be publicly honoured by the village panchayat on Goa Liberation Day on December 19.
This was decided at the gram sabha of Colva village panchayat held on Sunday, wherein members decided to honour Iva, who hails from the village.
Sarpanch Anthony Fernandes told the media after the gram sabha that the meeting has authorized a local resident Alexandre to organize the function by involving various other local bodies. He said that the felicitation of the FDA officer has been tentatively fixed on Goa Liberation Day for her courageous decision to expose the deed of lacing fish with formalin
that was brought from outside the State.
The gram sabha also deliberated on the controversial Sewage Treatment Plant under construction in the village by the Goa Sewage Development Corporation. Gram sabha members demanded to know the status of work on the STP despite the issuance of the stop-work order issued by the panchayat. The Sarpanch replied stating that the panchayat has already issued two stop-work orders to Sewage Corporation based on the legal opinion obtained by the local body.
Members, however, demanded that the panchayat hold a joint inspection of the sewage treatment plant to find out the current status of the work on the project, especially after the panchayat had issued the two stop-work orders.
Agitated gram sabha members said the inspection of the STP will not only unravel the status of the work on the project, but would help the villagers to take the next course of action, including knocking the doors of the High Court with a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) against the
plant which plans to discharge the treated sewage in the Arabian sea.
The gram sabha also discussed the burning issue of stray dogs in the coastal village after members complained of the menace posed by the stray dogs to the visitors on the beach.
After much discussion, and agreeing with the sentiments of the gram sabha members, the sarpanch assured the members that the panchayat would immediately write a letter to the tourism department and the Collector.
