MARGAO
Asserting that citizens knock on the doors of the courts only if the Legislative or the political doors are closed, Benaulim sarpanch Xavier Periera on Sunday said there is no reason why Benaulim MLA Venzy Viegas cannot make a request to Chief Minister Pramod Sawant for a bypass on stilts if the MLA supports the demand for stilts.
The Benaulim sarpanch further said those who brand the panchayat as slow to approach the courts should approach the courts themselves, assuring to provide 100 per cent reimbursement of the legal expenses.
Reacting to MLA Venzy’s statement charging the panchayat over the delay in approaching the court, Xavier said: “We can go to court only if the Legislative or the political doors are closed on the matter. Courts are the last option. Also, running to court unprepared will result in failure. We are diligently preparing our case so that we get positive results. If anyone feels that we are slow, then we suggest to the people who brand the panchayat as 'slow' to approach the courts themselves. We assure to provide 100 per cent reimbursement of the legal expenses."
Xavier added: “Navelim must have got the bypass on stilts due to the efforts of their then MLA and probably due to his close contacts with the then CM. Similarly, Mungul and Seraulim got stilts due to the efforts of the Fatorda MLA. These MLAs or the panchayats did not go to court to get the stilts. Probably the past MLA of Benaulim did not put enough pressure to get stilts in Benaulim. If the present MLA supports our demand for the bypass on stilts, there is no reason why our MLA cannot request the CM similar to what the Fatorda MLA and ex-Navelim MLA had made.”
The sarpanch informed that they had met the Benaulim MLA in mid-January 2023 where he informed that he will give the delegation the LAQ documents on the Western Bypass once the Assembly session gets over.
“I personally met the MLA again in January end to ask for the LAQ documents. He informed me that he is making them ready and will let me know. Till now we have not received his call to say that the documents are ready. We have already got the documents from alternate sources and the process is on,” he said.
He further said since the farmers are the immediate stakeholders, it was suggested to the Registered Farmers Association of the subject area to file the necessary case in the High Court and assured them to reimburse the cost.
“We felt that this was necessary since the panchayat getting approvals for filing the case from the higher authorities may take time or the approval may not come at all. For reasons best known to the MLA, he informed the farmers not to file the case. When a panchayat member asked him the reason why he is stopping them from filing the case, he told the member to ask our Admin. We don't know who the Admin he is referring to,” he said.
“The way pressure is being put on the panchayat, we are beginning to feel that there are vested interests who want us to file an ill-prepared weak case to make us lose the case thereby closing all possible doors from the political or government side,” the sarpanch added.
