Gram sabha against licences to mega projects in Chimbel

Panaji: The Chimbel gram sabha on Sunday resolved to not issue construction licences to mega projects. The gram sabha also discussed several issues from budget estimates to garbage collection fees to parking issues.

The members criticised sarpanch Sandesh Shirodkar for not calling a gram sabha in Oct, Jan and Feb. They also questioned the absence of Santa Cruz MLA Rodolfo Fernandes in the gram sabha. Sarpanch read out an email from the MLA that said he had an important matter to attend to.

The gram sabha rejected the budget for the year 2026-27, claiming it had discrepancies in the budget estimate. Shirodkar said a fresh budget with a detailed break-up of allocations will be presented.

Tukaram Kunkalkar, a Chimbel resident, said, “In the budget approved in the year 2024-25, the estimated budget shows Rs 5 crore, while the actual money spent is Rs 1.5 crore. That is just 15% of the amount spent. No wonder there is no development in our village.” There were allocations made in certain areas, but no amount was spent that year. It is a copy-and-paste document from the 2024-25 budget documents

The residents also expressed their concerns and demanded to increase the budget allocation for door-to-door garbage collection and for cultural programmes in the village.

The sabha also discussed that the sewage from the slum area in Indira Nagar is flowing directly into the agricultural fields, making it a health hazard for the residents and the farmers working in the fields. The residents demanded to form a committee to regulate the garbage nuisance.