MAPUSA
The ordinary gram sabha in Saligao turned out to be a battleground for sections of BJP supporters who traded abuses and allegations against each other and with at least one supporter getting roughed up at the fag end of the meeting on Sunday .
Amidst a charged up meeting, the villagers resolved not to allow additional garbage at the solid waste management plant in Saligao and to also hold a protest at the site.
The battle lines were drawn with one group led by a villager and staunch BJP supporter Pradeep Sawant owing allegiance to ex-MLA Jayesh Salgaonkar crossing swords with another group led by former sarpanch Eknath Oraskar aligned to Saligao MLA Kedar Naik.
Sawant along with the ruling panchayat body accused the panchayat secretary of non-cooperation and stalling development in the village.
“The secretary is making life difficult for the villagers. He displays a careless attitude and causes a lot of hardship to the locals who visit the panchayat. We want his removal,” Sawant said.
He was backed by Sarpanch Lucas Remedious and majority of the panchayat members who also demanded the removal of the secretary.
However, another group of villagers led by Oraskar opposed the move to raise the secretary’s removal at the gram sabha when there were other issues to be discussed.
A virtual war of words broke out between the groups, both trading allegations and counter allegations against each other.
At the end of the meeting a fracas broke out between the two groups and a supporter of Sawant was allegedly man-handled by the supporters of Oraskar.
Later, speaking to the media Pradeep Sawant admitted that there were two groups in the village.
“It’s become BJP versus BJP. Some Congressmen have joined the BJP who do not gel well within the party. For the first time there has been a fight at the gram sabha meeting. Senior party leaders should take note of the affairs in Saligao,” Sawant said.
He said the government should apply its mind and remove secretaries that were detrimental to the development of the village.
Former sarpanch, Eknath Oraskar said that the gram sabha meeting was going on very well but an unfortunate incident led to some chaos.
He said the entire village was against the expansion of the garbage treatment plant and the additional waste that was brought there for treatment.
While the villagers discussed the garbage issue, some people had a personal agenda to settle with the secretary.
“They created chaos and used abusive language against me while I was speaking on the garbage issue,” Oraskar said.
He said if they wanted to get rid of the secretary then there was a process to follow and gram sabha was not the forum.
“The panchayat body should take a resolution in the fortnightly meeting and forward it to the Director of the Panchayat. The panchayat is governed by the Panchayat Raj Act. The secretary is appointed by the government only the government can remove him,” he opined.
Sawant supporters then rushed to the Saligao police station and lodged a police complaint against Eknath Oraskar and his supporters for assaulting Milagres D'Souza, a supporter of the Sawant group.
