OLD GOA
The Bhoma gram sabha, on Sunday, saw two groups in a face-off over utterances made against each other over the highway road widening issue.
When the issue came up for discussion, those opposing the road widening and demanding bypass posed question to the panchayat how some panchas are claiming that the houses at Nagzari would be denotified from the gazette notification.
Sarpanch Damodar Naik tried to explain that the statements were made based on the written assurance by Goa PWD that the houses would not be demolished.
However, the villagers said that now that NHAI is handling the project, the Goa PWD does not have any say in the matter.
The villagers then stated that the government should stop fool the people through misleading statements.
The women then tried to question a panch over his utterances which angered the other group who then cross-questioned over utterances made against them initially.
Both the groups then came face-to-face leveling charges against each other, which prompted the police to intervene.
As the issue appeared to be going out of hand, sarpanch Damodar Naik announced that he is ending the gram sabha with a resolution to write to the Chief Minister, who is also the PWD minister, and also the NHAI voicing opposition to the road widening project.
“We will also seek an appointment with the CM and lead a delegation of the panchayat as well as the villagers to inform about the opposition to the project,” sarpanch Naik stated.
Earlier, the issue of the incomplete ground also figured prominently with the villagers questioning the undue delay in completing the same.
Sarpanch Naik said that he will ensure that the ground is completed in another two months.
The issue of the newly inaugurated Banastarim market complex also came up for discussion as the locals questioned why vendors are allowed to sit outside the complex.
Other issues that figured included the irregular garbage collection with some locals stating that garbage is not collected from their houses, to which the sarpanch assured to look into the matter.
The issue of re-assessment of house tax was also discussed with the locals raising their objection to the steep hike proposed.
However, the panchayat authorities informed that they are conducting the exercise as per the directives from the government.
