Neura gram sabha erupts over power outage, landfilling

Panaji: The issues of an illegal reclamation in khazan land, non-functioning of the local biodiversity management committee (BMC), and a five-hour power outage in the village dominated a heated gram sabha of Neura panchayat on Sunday.

The members were agitated over damage to the underground power cable during excavation work for a new water pipeline.

The five-hour power disruption caused hardship to villagers, and they demanded that an FIR be filed against the contractor. The members also urged the newly elected zilla panchayat member of St Lawrence Trupti Bacal to take up the matter.

At the meeting chaired by sarpanch Aditya Sawant, members criticised BMC’s role over the past four years and raised concerns over a recent landfilling in an eco-sensitive area near a school. Both, the panchayat building and the school itself had been constructed in Neura by reclaiming a part of the khazan land that stretches from Agasaim to Carambolim. The members were irked by biodiversity management committee’s silence in the recent reclamation near the school.

A panch member said a local politician had claimed that no objection certificate for this landfilling was not required, triggering a heated discussion.

They also demanded that the matter of reclamation near the rivulet of the Cumbharjua canal be pursued, and that the members be informed of the action taken at the next gram sabha.

The rampant flooding of fields by sluice-gate operators were also discussed.