Pollution of River Sal, conservation of water resources, and digitalisation of panchayat records were amongst the host of issues that dominated the gram sabha of the village panchayat of Nuvem on Sunday. The meeting chaired by Sarpanch Freda D’Sa also discussed and approved the budget estimates for Financial year 2025-26, besides garbage fees, and the issue of rumblers on the national highway passing through the village. With Chief Minister Pramod Sawant maintaining that the government will try and provide four hours of water to the people, gram sabha member Zarina Da Cunha said the panchayat should not approve anything with a swimming pool if people will not even get water for four hours. She also requested for a hydrological survey of Nuvem village, including the groundwater level and marking all the water bodies. Sarpanch Freda later told the media that the panchayat has passed a resolution to do water mapping and water harvesting and to conserve water in a scientific manner. One of the members raised the issue of kayaking on River Sal, demanding to know whether any permission has been given for the activity. While the sarpanch replied that no permission has been given by the panchayat, the gram sabha member pointed out that her inquiries have revealed that the Captain of Ports has feigned ignorance about the kayaking activity. Over the proposal to levy garbage fees, gram sabha member Carmelito Andrade insisted that the garbage fees should be fixed on the households only after a survey to find out if the premises are leased out on rent. He said the garbage fees should be fixed in such a way that apart from the owner, the tenants should also be made to pay the garbage fees.
Sarpanch Freda D’Sa later told the media that the panchayat would write to the local MLA Aleixo Sequeira, who also holds the Environment portfolio, on the issue of River Sal pollution and the rumblers on the National Highway 66. The sarpanch further informed that the panchayat will take up digitalisation of panchayat records in the coming financial year.
Source: https://bit.ly/42VRLfp
