Huge power bills worry Rachol locals

MARGAOr rThe gram sabha also raised concern over the huge power bills received by the panchayat, with members saying that panchayat will not be in a position to pay the bills given that Rachol panchayat is a financially weak. rThe meeting chaired by Sarpanch Eni Joanitta Oliveira deliberated on the proposal to take up land filling of the panchayat land to set up an administrative complex. The sarpanch pointed out that the proposed administrative complex will help accommodate most of the departments, including the health centre, with a provision to set up the community centre on the first floor. r“This issue was discussed at the meeting and it has been decided to take up the work of land filling on a war footing and complete the project at the earliest,” the Sarpanch said. rPanch member Luis Oliveira pointed out that given that Rachol is a poor panchayat with hardly any r revenue coming to the body, gram sabha members have raised concern over the huge power bills received by the panchayat. r“The panchayat’s revenue is pegged at less than a lakh of rupees per annum. However, the average annual power bills work out over Rs one lakh. The panchayat will not be in a position to run the panchayat it the scarce resources are utilized only to pay the power bills,” Luis said, adding that the issue would be discussed at the panchayat body for a solution. The gram sabha has also resolved to complete the pending works under the PM”s Adarsh Gram Yojana.