THE GOAN NETWORK
PANAJI
Subsequent to government directions, the Directorate of Panchayats on Saturday withdrew the exercise to seek public feedback on the proposed notification of villages as urban areas, directing all Village Panchayats to immediately halt the process and cancel any Gram Sabha meetings convened to discuss the issue.
Acting on the Revenue Department's order, the department issued a memorandum withdrawing its own May 26 directive that had instructed Block Development Officers (BDOs) to facilitate the collection of public feedback, comments and viewpoints on the proposed urbanisation of village areas.
The Directorate directed all BDOs to immediately inform every Village Panchayat under their jurisdiction that the consultation process stands withdrawn with immediate effect.
It further ordered that any Village Panchayat which had already issued notices or scheduled regular, special or extraordinary Gram Sabha meetings exclusively to deliberate on the urbanisation proposal must cancel those meetings immediately.
The Directorate instructed all BDOs to ensure strict compliance with the order and submit compliance reports on the same evening.
