Senior town planner assistant forced to beat a hasty retreat

Senior town planner, Mr S T Puttaraju and his assistant had to make an exit from the Nuvem gram sabha, after the villagers refused to entertain the two officials from the Town and Country Planning Department.
The villagers were protesting against the TCP officials as they were hurt by the treatment meted out by them in the recent past.
Earlier, Mr Puttaraju and his assistant made a surprise entry into the gram sabha and were given a warm welcome by the acting sarpanch, Mr Menino Mascarenhas, however, the villagers, were not too happy and questioned Mr Mascarenhas, if the TCP officials have come on an official visit or was he invited for the gram sabha.
Even as the TCP officials were ready with the maps, the villagers refused to co-operate forcing Mr Puttaraju to make an unceremonious exit.
Prior to this, the gram sabha started on a fiery note as the villagers observed that the minutes were not recorded properly and that the secretary, Mr Custodio Faria was making notes in a separate book. The high voltage gram sabha continued as the villagers objected to the draft Regional Plan and the western bypass saying that it will take a heavy toll on the village and villagers.
The villagers decided to make their own plan at the village committee level as the village requires certain developments like water reservoir, etc., however, Mr Mascarenhas informed that the entire plan cannot be scrapped but a few changes can be suggested to the same to suit the village.
The gram sabha also demanded stop work order be issued to a housing project as it didn't have the required road, besides there other illegalities.
The villagers also took up the audit report and suggested that the questionnaire with regard to it be discussed in the next gram sabha as they have made several observations which needed to be discussed at length.
The gram sabha also wanted to know why the village panchayat has not tabled the budget proposals during the current gram sabha. To which, the sarpanch informed that the budget will be taken up in the next gram sabha.
As the villagers took up the issue of registration of migrants/tenants being registered in the village, the sarpanch told them that all migrants and tenants will be issued with photo-identity cards. The villagers also requested the panchayat to demarcate the village boundaries. They also wanted to know if the panchayat had disaster management and garbage disposal plans in place.
With regard to a garbage dumpsite, the villagers asked the panchayat body to find a suitable place for the same; however, the panchayat body was of the opinion that the villagers identify a suitable site to treat garbage. Further, the villagers also demanded transparency with regard to the display of hoardings in the village. They wanted to know as to how many licences have been issued and suggested that the advertisers display their licence numbers on the hoardings.

(The Navhind Times)