Goemkarponn desk
CANACONA: Stating government is Gaondongrim ignoring villagers and doing injustice to the village Anganwadis, village sarpanch Dhillon alias Yeshtwant Dessa has threatened to sit on an indefinite hunger strike, till the agriculture department distributes all the materials obtained under Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana (PMKSY) to the village Anganwadi.
In a decision likely to be finalized in the upcoming panchayat body meeting, all the panch members will sit on a chain-hunger strike and Sarpanch of Gaondongrim Sarpanch Dhillon (Yeshwant) Dessai will sit on an indefinite hunger strike till the materials obtained under Water conservation Initiative of PMKSY is distributed to the anganwadis of Gaondongrim village.
Sarpanch Dessai stating the villagers continues to complain bitterly for not allotting the materials to the village anganwadis are instead blaming the panchayat body including the sarpanch and panch members for not honouring the commitment made in the village committee meeting by denial of materials to the villagers.
“Accordingly, we have decided to sit on a dharna/hunger strike, and this will be done once this decision is recorded in the panchayat’s monthly meeting held by the end of this month. People had earlier decided to boycott the Lok Sabha polls through gram sabha resolutions but had relented after Chief Minister just before the polls assured villagers through me as sarpanch to solve the problem soon after the elections are held, but still, there is no sign of any material allotments to the village anganwadis listed in the committee meeting. We have no choice, but we feel a hunger strike is the only solution to get the people’s issue resolved,” he said.
“Our panch members will sit on a “one-day token chain hunger strike’, and I as the village Sarpanch will be sitting on hunger strike indefinitely till the materials are allotted to the listed anganwadis of our village’. Dessai said.
It may be recalled that the Under the Central government’s prestigious Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana 2021-26 (PMKSY) for the Water Conservation Initiative of ‘Pani Adwa, Pani Jirva scheme, where first phase expenditure of about rupees Fifteen lakhs was released, tables, steel cupboards, water-filters and Plastic Chairs were purchased from the funds for the distribution to all the Anganwadis in the Gaondongrim panchayat area on the recommendations of the PMKSY Gaondongrim village committee consisting of Gaondongrim Sarpanch as Chairman and Agriculture officers as Executive members.
Sarpanch had then informed that the materials thus obtained were stocked at the Zonal Agriculture Office Canacona, and no one took steps to distribute the same to the beneficiaries for over a year now delayed over 2 years.
As a Committee Chairman Yeshwant Dessai blamed the Canacona Agriculture Office for sleeping over the materials obtained even as villagers began to demand for action from the panchayat body and allottee the materials to the listed Anganwadi. Sarpanch further alleged while some materials are stocked in the Zonal office rest of the things kept at someone’s private places continue to gather dust, while people also continuously raise the issue in every gram Sabha and then villagers are forced to pass a resolution to boycott 2024 slated Lok Sabha polls over non-distribution of the materials to 11 Anganwadis of Gaondongrim.
The matter escalated further after the Agriculture department in a brief program conducted by the Canacona Zonal Agriculture Office in the month of March 2024 distributed the materials at the hands of Speaker Ramesh Tawadkar to some undisclosed beneficiaries and the Sarpanch alleging the materials obtained for Anganwadi are instead distributed to ‘Someone else’ who are not-at-all listed by the Gaondongrim village PMKSY committee.
As the villagers raised complaints with the panchayat, Sarpanch swiftly reiterated his threats to complain to the PMO to seek Prime Minister’s personal intervention over the agriculture dept’s high-handedness and demanded action from Chief Minister. Villagers stating their anganwadis as listed by the village committee are not provided the materials also reiterated their decision to boycott Lok Sabha polls if the matter is not resolved before elections.
After Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant’s reported intervention and personally appealing to the sarpanch to allow him sufficient time to amend the wrong distribution of materials soon after Lok Sabha Polls, villagers took a decision to reverse their threat to boycott Lok Sabha elections.
‘Chief Minister has agreed to provide these materials to village anganwadis to whom it was originally obtained’.
‘Now, it’s been months since Lok Sabha elections are over, and to date, there is no sign of material distribution or any intimation regarding the same to the panchayat. Villagers are aggrieved, agitated and threatening us, the panchayat. So, there’s no other option left with us than to sit on hunger –strike and take our fight for rights at the door of the government itself’, Dessai asserted.
