the goan I network
MAPUSA
What started as a trickle is turning into a wave of protests as villages across Bardez are joining the queue to reject the urban status forced upon them.
On Sunday, the villagers of Siolim-Marna villagers came out in numbers to send a clear message to the government that they are not interested in converting their village into an urban area.
Stating that urbanization was a sinister plan to bring high-rise buildings in the village and to rob it of its panchayat status, the extra-ordinary gram sabha in Siolim-Marna unanimously resolved to reject the urban tag for the village.
“We the people will decide what we want for the village. We reject urban status for our village. We will also support the other 55 villages in their quest to oppose the sinister plan. If need be, we will go to those villages to support them,” thundered Amrut Agarwadekar, a villager to loud applause.
Seconding him was another local, Fatima Fernandes who said faulty plans and unplanned development had wreaked havoc in other parts of the country and if the villagers were not alert the same could happen to their village and the State.
“The Chennai floods was a man-made disaster as several water bodies were buried and hills brought down in the name of development,” Fernandes said.
The 13-point resolution passed at the gram sabha said the exercise to declare the village as urban was unscientific as the criteria was neither revealed nor discussed with the panchayat body and the villagers.
It also said that declaring the village as urban will increase the FAR resulting in multi-storied buildings coming up thereby destroying the character of the village.
Setting the tone of the gram sabha was Captain Viriato Fernandes, co-convenor of Goencho Avaz who explained in detail the burden urban status will bring on the
village.
He said besides increase in various taxes, the village could be clubbed into a municipality which could be a big loss to grassroots
democracy.
“In panchayats, you can take part in gram sabhas and voice your opinion on every issue that affects the village as you are doing today. Once your village becomes part of a municipality you will lose your voice,” Fernandes said.
He disclosed when the notification first came even Goencho Avaz was surprised and decided to dig a little deeper.
Siolim-Marna Sarpanch, Monali Pednekar said that the panchayat body stood by the villagers in rejecting the urban status on the village.
“People of the village have spoken against the urban tag and we are with the people of the village,” Pednekar said.
