MARGAO
The first meeting of the Varca panchayat witnessed an uproar after three members stayed away from the meeting when their plea for adjournment did not find favour with the sarpanch.
Even as the three panchas comprising Sharon D’Costa, Joao Rodrigues and Norah Rodrigues stayed out of the meeting hall in protest, the meeting chaired by sarpanch Salesiana Fernandes proceeded with the meeting with the remaining six panchayat members to transact the business on the agenda.
Sharon, Joao and Norah maintained that they had asked for an adjournment of the meeting for 15 days since they wanted to know the annual budget, the accounts of the previous balance sheet, tenders floated and certified copies of the multi-housing construction project files of the village.
The sarpanch, however, maintained that the meeting cannot be adjourned since it has been called to transact business, including pending applications of the villagers.
While Sharon contended that the first meeting of the panchayat cannot take place without the members, most of them being new, being briefed on the budget, the sarpanch maintained that whatever files that have come to the panchayat concerning the wards were placed before the members for scrutiny.
Incidentally, the panchayat secretary pointed out that previous proceedings were not brought before the meeting since they were confirmed by the Administrator.
Deputy sarpanch Roland Fernandes later told the media that the meeting was not adjourned for the simple reason that applications of villagers, including shack owners, have been pending for a long time due to the intervening elections.
