Nuvem locals ask CM to list out gram sabha powers -ToI

Nuvem locals ask CM to list out gram sabha powers TNN | Apr 22, 2013, 03.54 AM IST MARGAO: Villagers, at the gram sabha of the Nuvem village panchayat held on Sunday, expressed their resentment over the recent statements made by chief minister Manohar Parrikar suggesting that the gramsabhas no powers to regulate the functioning of the village panchayats and that their role was limited to that of a watchdog. Denouncing the statement, gram sabha members stressed that the resolutions taken by the gram sabhas are binding on the panchayats. "If that's not the case, why hold gram sabhas at all?" gram sabha members questioned and demanded an explanation over the gram sabha's powers from the government. A resolution to this effect was unanimously adopted by the gram sabha. Village panchayats are elected bodies, which have the legal right to give licences for construction, but gram sabhas are only advisory in nature; their decisions cannot be legally binding on the panchayat, Parrikar had said in the legislative assembly recently. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/goa/Nuvem-locals-ask-CM-to-list-out-gram-sabha-powers/articleshow/19670385.cms