VELIM: The Velim gram sabha on Sunday has witnessed an uproar demanding that the panchayat should lodge an FIR against a mobile company for attempting to forcefully install a ground based mast under the cover of darkness despite the panchayat rejecting their application to install the tower at the monthly meeting.
The Velim gram sabha witnessed noisy scenes as villagers expressed their anger over the high-handedness of the mobile company to forcefully install the mobile tower on the intervening night of March 25 when a panch member spotted the activity of installing the tower without any permission.
The sarpanch Melvyn Sanches informed that he received a call late in the night from panch member Veena Cardozo about the attempts to install the tower and that he had called the police to the site. The gram sabha members demanded that the panchayat should lodge an FIR with the police against the mobile company for the illegal activity.
The sarpanch earlier informed the villagers that the panchayat body had rejected the proposal of the mobile company as they had failed to produce necessary permissions for setting up the tower and had attached provisional permissions given by the directorate of panchayat and PWD. He said the mobile company had not mentioned the location of the tower neither had attached permissions from Goa state pollution control board, hence it was decided to return the file. The gram sabha also passed a surplus budget of Rs 1.3 crore for the 2017-18 financial year and informed the villagers that various works to the tune of Rs 71 lakh is in progress and sufficient allocation has been made for the new panchayat body which will be constituted after the elections.
The gram sabha also resolved to hold a special gram sabha meeting to discuss the World Bank project to provide multi-purpose cyclone shelter in the village after villagers of Combeabhat rejected the proposal by the WRD on grounds that the land is being used by locals for recreational activities. The villagers suggested that a special gram sabha be called as the project is likely to benefit the entire village and needs to be discussed thoroughly.