MARGAO
The Aquem-Baixo gram sabha on Sunday saw members demanding to know the reasons behind the repeated postponement of the demolition of the illegal towers in the village.
The members also demanded that the Goa police should not hand over the rapists involved in the heinous Betalbatim gang rape to the Indore police.
Former Sarpanch Inacio Dias, who raised the issue of the illegal towers, demanded to know the postponement of the demolition. Sarpanch Siddesh told the member that the demolition squad is headed by the Sub-divisional Magistrate, Margao, and the Panchayat has no role to play in the demolition.
He, however, said people should assemble at the site at next date of demolition to question the officials why certain agencies play truant resulting in postponement.
The Sarpanch drew attention of the gram sabha members to the repairs and renovation of the anganwadi carried out by the panchayat body. He pointed out that he took up the repair work after the anganwadi made news at this time last year when water started seeping into the hall causing inconvenience to children. The issue of installation of CCTV cameras at the panchayat ghar also figured with members demanding to know the details of money spent on the same.
The issue of auctioning of the panchayat shops was also taken up at the meeting. Members pointed out that no auction of shops has taken place for the last several years and this amounted to violation of panchayat rules.
The gram sabha also gave its approval for the panchayat football cup and also deliberated on the recruitment of a temporary clerk and peon.
Sarpanch Siddesh told the gram sabha that the panchayat members, including him, will be visiting each and every ward to interact with the people to ascertain their requirements before preparing a development plan.
On the Betalbatim rape case, the sapranch said the gram sabha members were clear that the three rapists should not be handed over to the Indore police. The members demanded that the three criminals should be tried in Goa and punished as per the law of the land. He also said the gram sabha also demanded a stop to eve teasing across the state.
