OLD GOA
The public meeting on the Santa Cruz church ground late Tuesday evening to oppose inclusion of some parts of the village in the PDA became a platform for bashing the local MLA and the Santa Cruz panchayat members, as speaker after speaker blamed politicians for the fiasco.
Speaking at the meeting, Fr Michael Fernandes criticised local MLA Tony Fernandes for not keeping his word on resolving the issue in a democratic manner.
“I was shocked to see the second notification of inclusion of Santa Cruz village areas in the PDA despite the opposition from public,” decried Fr Fernandes. He warned the MLA to accept his mistake and correct it so that he gets blessings of the people, and not curses.
“The MLA should shout in the assembly, and if not then we will hold a dharna outside the MLA’s house. This is not the time for dialogues,” said Fr Fernandes, when it was pointed out that the MLA has planned to take a delegation to the CM on Wednesday.
The local Santa Cruz panchayat authorities were also not spared and they became the target of speakers for passing a resolution in favour of including parts of village in the PDA.
Sarpanch Mariano Araujo, Deputy Sarpanch Sonu de Araujo and other panchas were publicly asked to spell their position on the issue and everybody said that they are with the people.
In fact, sarpanch Mariano Araujo confessed publicly that the panchayat was under political pressure to pass the resolution for inclusion in the PDA. However, when the public exhorted him to name the politician who put pressure on the panchayat, Araujo refused due to which the gathering started booing him.
Avertino Miranda of Goa Green Brigade said the elected representatives were betraying the people and urged them to pass a resolution rejecting the inclusion of Santa Cruz village in PDA.
Stating that he along with his mother Victoria Fernandes had successfully opposed PDA and they are with the people now too, Rudolf Fernandes said the decision to include parts of Santa Cruz in PDA was without taking people into confidence.
“The decision of PDA was taken long back even before the elections were held,” Rudolf said, while stating that he was offered the Congress ticket only on conditions. “I did not want to be slave of anyone due to which I rejected the offer,” he said.
Locals later gathered outside the residence of the MLA to seek concrete action. The people also shouted slogans against the MLA, but he did not come out. The locals then decided to assemble outside the Assembly complex at 10.30 am on Wednesday.
