ST. ESTEVAO VILLAGERS RESOLVE TO TAKE PART IN GOVERNANCE

PANJIM: The villagers of St Estevao on Sunday resolved to take part in governance and not leave democracy to casting a vote only at election time.  The resolution was passed at Sunday's gram sabha in the island village which was attended by a large number of villagers. Residents unanimously agreed that they will participate at the gram sabha level where they will communicate with various government departments to achieve better governance.

The achievement for such social awareness has not been achieved overnight and is due to tireless efforts put in by a few socially aware citizens of the island.

Among the issues which the villagers will continue to fight against is the rampant sand mining that may result in the destruction of the village ecosystem. Some residents at the gram sabha pointed out that sand mining would change the course of the River Mandovi. They also said that there was a steady increase in the water level of the river, which would easily breach the bunds and inundate the village causing a disaster.

Further, the villagers also resolved to continue the fight against hill cutting and destruction of mangroves undertaken by a shipping company.

Another discussion arose on the water-testing kit given by the government to the panchayat, but currently lying in disuse.

Residents demanded that they be given training to handle the water-testing kit and they would undertake the responsibility of testing the water of the wells in the village by themselves.

There are around 100 wells in the village, with Palmar vaddo accounting for 45 of those wells alone, residents said.

Much displeasure was made known about the presence of names of migrant voters on the electoral rolls. Villagers said that many of these migrant voters continued to hold voting rights in original states and it was decided to follow guidelines specified by the Election Commission of India to weed out such names from the voter's list.

A resident also brought to the notice of those gathered that only five of the six sluice gates (manos) were being maintained in the village. Residents said that they would make the comunidade, the mamlatdar and the manxekar (sluice gate lessee) accountable as public funds were being utilized for the maintenance of all six sluice gates in the village.

The budget for the village panchayat was also discussed. Among the decisions taken include the hiring of resource persons to conduct workshops for the villagers on disaster management.