Mapusa, April 13 : Congress General Secretary Ms Manisha Usgaokar has filed complaint with the Director of Panchayat against Sarpanch and secretary of Usgao Ganje Village Panchayat for allegedly withdrawing Rs 1 lakh, without following procedure.
Addressing a press conference, Ms Manisha Usgaokar, who is also panch member of Usgao Ganje Village Panchayat, said that she has filed complaint against Sarpanch Narendra Usgaonkar and Panchayat Secretary Prasad Shet.
She said that both withdrawn Rs1 lakh from the Usgao Ganje Village Panchayat account without following laid down and required procedures that a resolution be taken to mandate this action. “The cheque no.311409 was drawn on the Usgao branch of State Bank of India. The entire Panchayat body had been kept in the dark. It was only when I checked the cheque book record slip of the Panchayat account discovered that this amount had been withdrawn,” she said.
Vijay Bhike, General Secretary, GPCC, pointed out that March 7th, being Holi, was a public holiday and the Village Panchayat was closed. Hence it was clear that the public money was withdrawn surreptitiously and arbitrarily in violation of the Goa Panchayat Raj Act of 1994 which lays down that the Sarpanch and Secretary cannot decide on withdrawal of such a large amount even in extreme emergency without a resolution by the Panchayat body.
Virendra Shirodkar, North Goa District Congress Committee President said that this illegal act was a clear abuse by the Sarpanch and the Secretary of the powers vested in them. He called for an immediate investigation into the matter followed by appropriate action.
