Thursday 28 Mar 2024

Now, Anjuna p’yat secy falls ill; one panch untraceable

Group of Seven suspects political interference to subvert poll process

| JULY 13, 2017, 03:47 AM IST
the goan I networkrMAPUSArAlthough the Directorate of Panchayats has fixed the election of sarpanch and deputy of Anjuna on July 17, the political intrigue refuses to die down in the panchayat that has been in the news for all the wrong reasons. rOn Thursday, panchayat secretary, Rajesh Assolkar who was directed to kick off the process and send election date notices to all panchas suddenly reported sick at noon and admitted himself in Asilo for hypertension. rTaking no chances, senior officials at the BDO immediately posted another secretary, Dharmendra Govekar to the panchayat to complete the election-related process. rBut soon another hurdle cropped up for the new secretary, as one of the panchas was untraceable and could not be served the notice. rPanch Surendra Govekar was not contactable on the phone nor was he available at both of his official residences in Anjuna. “We tried to call Surendra Govekar on the phone but his mobile phone was switched off. When we went to his residence we were told he was not at home. We went to his second residence but that too was locked. We had no other choice but to affix the copy of the notices on both of his residences,” said Dharmendra Govekar, new secretary deputed to Anjuna Panchayat. rSources in the panchayat disclosed that the panch member concerned had received a call from the staff of the panchayat in the morning and he promised to personally come and collect the notice in the panchayat. But when he failed to turn up in the panchayat office, the staff tried to call him again at about 3 pm but his mobile phone was found switched off. rThe group of seven panch members who have formed a group of majority in a signed press note said that they have reasons to believe that there was political interference with an attempt to sabotage the election process for the election of sarpanch and deputy. r“There are attempts to subvert the election process and this does not augur well for democracy,” said Savio Almeida, former sarpanch of the village. rIt may be recalled that the group of seven had approached the High Court on Wednesday for direction to the government to hold the election process and the Directorate of Panchayat had told the court it would conduct the election on July 17.
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