MAPUSA
Asserting that Colvale Panchayat will take a decisive action against all illegal scrapyards in the village, Sarpanch Sheetal Chodankar on Tuesday said that the panchayat has already initiated action against illegal scrapyards by serving notices to 49 of them.
Chodankar also said that majority of the panchayat members were in favour of taking action against the illegal scrapyards which has become a nuisance and brought bad name for the village.
“We are firm on taking action against all the scrapyards. All these scrapyards are illegal because they do not have permission from the panchayat. Secondly, high tension power line runs overhead in the area which can cause another big tragedy in future,” Chodankar said while addressing journalists in the panchayat office.
In December last year, a massive fire consumed four scrapyards and led to the death of one person who was employed in the scrapyard in Colvale. Soon after the fire incident, the authorities issued notices to all the scrapyards in the village.
Chodankar informed that when the fire incident took place, she was on leave for almost a month.
“Soon after I joined office, I sent notices to 49 illegal scrapyards and most have also replied to the notice. We are examining the replies and will take appropriate action against the illegal activity,” she said.
Incidentally, a majority of the panchayat members including the sarpanch have moved a no-confidence motion against Deputy Sarpanch Liberata Fernandes for failure to take decisive action against illegal scrapyards in the village.
Sources informed that most of the scrapyards are housed in the ward represented by the deputy sarpanch.
