Mayem panchas convene special meet
while gram sabha was underway
BICHOLIM
It was an unusual meeting within a meeting, as residents of Mayem on Sunday forced the panchayat members to convene a brief panchayat meeting while the gram sabha was in session.
This unprecedented incident in Mayem took place shortly after the Mayem gram sabha, chaired by Mayem Sarpanch Neha Thanekar, was convened on Sunday,
The residents immediately confronted the sarpanch and other panchas on whether the panchayat had initiated action to file a police complaint against former Mayem sarpanch Veena Chodankar and then panchayat secretary Suresh Fadte regarding various irregularities during their tenure.
When Sarpanch Thanekar was unable to offer a satisfactory reply, the residents demanded the suspension of gram sabha proceedings till they got a suitable reply from them.
Realizing that they could not continue the gram sabha proceedings with the agitated residents, the panchayat members took an unusual decision to convene a special panchayat meeting while the gram sabha was in session.
The panchayat members were then huddled inside a closed room for about 30 minutes, while residents waited in the hall. The panchayat finally decided to file a police complaint and a complaint with the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB).
It was only after this resolution that the gram sabha resume.
Reacting to the development, former Mayem sarpanch Kashinath Mayekar and others expressed satisfaction that the panchayat body had finally taken a suitable stand in the matter. A protest was lodged against a family member of the deputy speaker for prohibiting Sarpanch Thanekar at a joint meeting of mining company and farmers that was convened on November 19, to finalize the issue of paying compensation to farmers.
Another resolution was also passed to cancel the third shift of Sesa Goa Company.
Resolutions were also passed for an inquiry into the alleged stabbing attack on a local during a site inspection.
Another resolution directed a mining company to stop pumping water out from a pit
