the goan I network
MAPUSA
The Tivim panchayat came in the line of fire of locals after some of the panchayat members took the initiative to dump mud on the football ground without forming the village level technical committee to supervise work of repairing the football ground.
The villagers said the mud dumped on the football ground was actually mud from a mining reject full of stones and boulders and instead of fixing it, would worsen the condition of the ground.
In a complaint to the director of panchayats, a local resident Robert Colaco said in the last gram sabha it was unanimously resolved to form a village level technical committee to supervise the work of repairing the football ground belonging to the Tivim Village Panchayat.
“Surprisingly, the resolution for forming technical supervisory committee was not recorded in the minutes of the meeting,” Colaco said.
“Interestingly, some of the panchayat members went ahead and dumped mining reject mud with stones and boulders on the periphery of the ground,” he added.
He further disclosed that some labourers were engaged in spreading the mud on the ground without sieving the mud. “This will lead to unevenness on the ground and the mud will get washed away during the rains resulting in more stones emerging on the ground,” he said.
Several sports lovers of the village gathered on the ground on February 16 to register protest against the haphazard work being carried out on the football ground.
Acting sarpanch, Sandip Kauthankar and panch members Shivdas Kambli, Arjun Aroskar, Michael Fernandes and Leo Pereira also arrived on the ground.
Colaco questioned the panch members over the haphazard work of dumping mud of mining rejects on the ground. The villagers requested the panchayat to remove the mud and to either do a proper job in repairing the ground or engage people who were ready to take up the job.
Earlier, a local club “ St Christopher’s Sport Club “ had requested the panchayat it was ready to undertake the work of repairs of the ground at a cost of around Rs 2 lakh.
“The club was denied permission to develop the ground but the panchayat has also failed to maintain the ground,” Colaco said.P’yat abandons plan, removes mud
MAPUSA: Sensing the mood of the locals, the Tivim panchayat immediately removed all the mud that was dumped on the football ground.
“Since the villagers had a problem with the mud dumped on the football ground, we removed it. Finally, we have to do what the villagers expect from us,” said Shivdas Kambli, a panch member. He said the panchayat decided to level the ground after a local wrote to the director of panchayats saying that the ground was full of stones and uneven.
“A well-wisher decided to sponsor the mud and we decided to allow him to dump the mud on the ground. Our intention was clear, but since the villagers objected to the mud we decided to remove it,” he said.
