Carmona villagers to hold state-wide signature campaign for ‘empowerment’

Heraldgoa: Carmona: Friday, 25 September 2015.

While an RTI application filed by Carmona villagers has proved that the site inspection carried out by the panchayat is invalid, they have decided to hold a signature campaign across the state to get the government to implement the 73rd and 74th Amendments to the Constitution.

This is in lieu of the earlier announcement made by Carmona village committee (CVC) that they would hold meetings with village groups from other areas and would soon hold a public meeting at Lohia Maida as it was a fight for Goa, and not just Carmona.

On Thursday, the villagers had planned to meet the Salcete block development officer (BDO), but the meeting was postponed as he was not present. However, the special panchayat meeting is likely to be held on September 29.

At the panchayat meeting, the secretary will present the 12-point resolution of the CVC, the objections raised by the two panchas, the fresh complaints regarding the property that had been blocked by the Raheja property, and the validity of the site inspection.

The site inspection was carried out without following proper procedure, which had to be sanctioned during a panchayat meeting. Secondly, it is still unknown as to how the September 10 meeting was chaired by deputy sarpanch Orlando Da Silva when sarpanch Lavita Dias had resigned. Sources added that Dias had also expressed willingness to resume her duties as a panch and had sent a medical certificate for the same.

Additionally, the villagers have called for the principal chief secretary to investigate the matter thoroughly given the major lapses of the panchayat while issuing the construction license. They have also demanded that the panchayat inspection the cross on the Raheja property check the actual size of the road, among other violations.

Sources also informed that the principal secretary had asked the Town and Country Planning (TCP) department to take the legal opinion of the attorney general before granting a technical clearance on the size of the road. Additionally, former Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar had also asked for maps to confirm the road size.

Sources pointed out that Rahejas had instead sent the regional plan, which did not correlate to the existing width, while no opinion was sought from the attorney general.

The villagers have also strongly criticised the government for not responding to any resolution sent to government departments and questioned what it would take for the government to respond.