OLD GOA
Sarpanch Chandrakant Kunkolkar abruptly ended the Chimbel gram sabha on Sunday even as proposals from Revolutionary Goans’ member Ajay Kholkar were yet to be discussed.
Crying foul over the issue, Kholkar alleged that the sarpanch did not want to answer the queries raised by him pertaining to promotion of illegalities at Indira Nagar.
Even as the gram sabha was in progress, trouble started when the proposals came up for discussion.
During the discussion, the villagers demanded that sarpanch Kunkolkar answer the queries, not secretary Rajendra Gawas.
When Gawas pointed out that it should not matter as long as the queries are answered, the RG members remained
The issue only heated up when the sarpanch Kunkolkar refused to entertain queries pertaining to demolition of unauthorized structures at Indira Nagar, citing Sec 6 of the Goa Panchayati Raj Act claiming it does not fall under the purview of the gram sabha.
At this point, another group of villagers demanded that the gram sabha should be called off which led to a commotion between the RG members and the other group.
As the commotion ensued, sarpanch Kunkolkar along with the secretary and other panchas walked out after announcing that the gram sabha had ended, leaving the villagers bemused.
Later, speaking to the media RG’s Kholkar said that by ending the gram sabha in undue haste the sarpanch has insulted the villagers of Chimbel.
“It is an insult to the villagers of Chimbel but we are not going to keep quiet. We are going to approach the higher authorities and see to it that the gram sabha is re-convened,” Kholkar said.
Meanwhile, budget estimates of Rs 2.94 crore was approved for the year 2021-22 with villagers suggesting some modifications.
Also, the villagers resolved that the draft CZMP should be explained to the villagers and the public hearing of March 7 should be scrapped.
The villagers also demanded that the hearing should be held at panchayat level after an expert from GCZMA had explained the plan to the villagers, in toto.
