MARGAO
Frank Viegas is the new Sarpanch of the 11-member village Panchayat of Chinchinim. In the elections held on Monday, Frank was declared elected unopposed after the presiding officer received his lone nomination paper for the post.
Election for the post was necessitated following the resignation by outgoing Sarpanch Valentino Barretto as per an understanding amongst the members.
Frank, who is the president of the Goan Seamen Association of India (GSAI) and the Executive committee member of Goa Forward party, later told the media that he would pursue with Chief Minister Pramod Sawant the long pending proposal of construction of the village panchayat ghar.
He also called upon the government to respect the sentiments of Chinchinim villagers by building a road bypass on the NH66 instead of a flyover at Dandeavaddo.
“The government should not bulldoze projects on the people. When the gram sabha and the panchayat has adopted so many resolutions for a road bypass, the government is still pursuing the flyover when the villagers are demanding a road bypass”, he said.
Expressing his gratitude to all the Panchayat members for electing him unopposed to the hot seat, Frank said he would take all the members as well as the people into confident to make Chinchinim clean and green.
He also appealed to the villagers to extend their cooperation and participate in the development activities of the village panchayat. Saying that development is a continuous process, Frank said it would be his endeavour to take all the pending projects to the logical conclusion.
