MARGAO
The Paroda gram sabha on Sunday witnessed an uproar over the question of an alleged hill-cutting in the village.
In fact, the gram sabha meeting chaired by Sarpanch Inacio Tereza had to face a volley of questions from the gram sabha over the hill-cutting and the silence of the authorities, including the village panchayat to the alleged illegal activity.
Gram sabha member Gabriel Fernandes brought to the notice of the sarpanch the hill-cutting taking place in the village and questioned why the panchayat has till date not called the flying squad or lodged a complaint with the police to stop the activity and bring the culprits to book.
Gabriel claimed that the same hill was cut a few years ago and the land was utilized to keep migrants in the village. He feared that the ongoing hill-cutting activity has been undertaken with a similar objective of setting up a migrant colony.
He further demanded to know why the scheduled inspection of the hill-cutting site could not take place when the panchayat secretary was scheduled to inspect the site.
After heated discussions on the matter, the gram sabha members told the sarpanch to immediately lodge a police complaint and also intimate the flying squad. The gram sabha members also demanded that the sarpanch place the report of the activity at a special gram sabha.
