Panaji: Olavio Fernandes, a former director of the agriculture department, collapsed during a heated discussion with Santa Cruz sarpanch Jenifer de Oliveira at the gram sabha meeting on Sunday.The proposal under discussion was to bring down transfer fees for flats from Rs 25,000 to Rs 10,000.A member of the gram sabha performed CPR on Fernandes and tried to revive him, but he remained unresponsive.Fernandes, who was suspected to have a heart attack, was taken to the GMC but was declared dead.The sarpanch said, “This is the first time we encountered a situation like this. We will be writing to govt to keep an ambulance on standby during all gram sabhas if such an emergency occurs again.”Earlier, the gram sabha discussed and passed the budget for the financial year 2026-27, and other proposals received.Oliveira said proposals received from members will be decided at the next gram sabha, as Sunday’s meeting was curtailed after Fernandes collapsed.“If people have any queries, they can come to us and talk about the issue in detail, or raise queries at the next meeting,” she said.
