ANJUNA
In the midst of all the chaos and blame game in the matter of the Bombay High Court judgement ordering sealing of 175 establishment in Anjuna, Sarpanch Laximidas Chimulkar has said that the panchayat is being made the 'fall guy' getting all the blame when in fact several other government departments and authorities have their hands dirty as well.
Speaking to The Goan in his office at the Anjuna panchayat, Chimulkar said: "It is a norm that officials from government departments and statutory authorities orally advise applicants to run their establishments without issuing any formal permissions saying 'choloi tum. poia magir'."
Chimulkar who faced the stick during the proceedings of the suo-motu petition on illegal constructions from the Bombay High Court and was even briefly disqualified both as sarpanch and panch member in September before he managed to obtain a stay from the Supreme Court of India, also said that panchayats have limited powers to act decisively with multiple departments and authorities having powers over them.
"Any decision taken by the panchayat most of the times gets vetoed by the BDO, Director of Panchayats and higher-ups," Chimulkar said, adding that in the matter of constructions, the local body in the village cannot act independently.
He said, clearance from Town and Country Planning Department, PWD, Health Department among others is required before the panchayat can issue any permission, NOC or Occupancy.
Referring to Anjuna Chimulkar, who at the time of the last panchayat elections held in 2022 was hailed as a giant killer for defeating long-time Sarpanch Savio Almeida in his ward, admitted that there were illegalities galore in the village done over decades.
"The High Court order must be respected and we will follow it. In fact we are sealing the establishments on a daily basis, sometimes up to 15 in a day," Chimulkar said.
Asked to respond to Chief Minister Pramod Sawant's claim that the High Court order was passed due to wrong information and erroneous affidavit of the panchayat secretary, Chimulkar denied it saying the State was also a respondent in the matter and should have flagged the errors in the affidavit during the proceedings.
