NT NETWORK
PANAJI
Porvorim Rising, a forum of sarpanchas and panchayat members of the village panchayats in Porvorim constituency, as well as local public groups, on Saturday alleged that the United Porvorim Citizens’ Forum is a land-grabbing cartel and its members are creating hindrances in the development of the constituency for their vested interest.
The convenor of Porvorim Rising, Suraj Borkar making this allegation at a press conference said that some non-Goans are also attached to the
United Porvorim Citizens’ Forum and are opposing the development of Porvorim for their personal gains.
It may be recalled that Wilber Ticlo had recently alleged that illegal hill cutting was going on in full swing in and around Socorro village panchayat area and private properties were being trespassed into on the pretext of road widening.
The sarpanch of Socorro panchayat, Sandip Vazarkar, speaking at the press conference stated that Ticlo, in the year 2015, had himself proposed widening of the particular road at a gram sabha, but is now against it. “We have in possession related NOCs of all government departments, permission for hill cutting and even the NOCs from the owners of the concerned area,” he added, pointing out that the widening of the road has become necessary as the existing road is very narrow and an accident-prone route.
The sarpanch of Salvador do Mundo, Sandeep Salgaonkar said that Wilber Ticlo had contested the election from the Porvorim constituency and got only 200-odd votes. “He is the brother of the Aldona MLA, Glenn Ticlo and it is still unclear if Glenn is supporting his brother or not,” he noted.
It was further informed that earlier in the month, members of the United Porvorim Citizens’ Forum had demanded a sum of Rs 20 lakh to allow the continuation of the particular work, and then allegedly attacked the people involved in the widening of the road.
It was also informed that this attack resulted in damage to the JCB machine and a related complaint had been registered at the Porvorim police station.
The president of Britona Villagers Front, Agnelo Pereira also spoke. The zilla panchayat member from Socorro, Vaishali Satardekar and members from the village panchayats were also present.