the goan I network
MARGAO
Hazard a guess what’s on the priority list of the South Goa Zilla Panchayat members before curtains come down on the five year-tenure in March this year?
Well, the Zilla Panchayat members, representing South Goa constituency, have decided to cap their tenure with a trip to the picturesque Andaman & Nicobar islands in the Bay of Bengal and Hyderabad.
Call it a study tour or a pleasure jaunt at the expense of the exchequer, around 22 Zilla members with three officials in tow will first fly to Hyderabad before descending on the scenic Andaman & Nicobar Islands. Take note, the entire “study tour” is expected to cost a whopping Rs 16 lakh and the entire expenses will be borne by the Goa government.
And, the tour will come immediately during the weekend well before the election code of conduct comes into force ahead of the Zilla Panchayat polls scheduled in mid-March. The ZP members and officials are all expected to return home on January 10.
Sources in the know say the study tour was first proposed by the Zilla Panchayat couple of months ago, before it was shot down by Panchayat Minister Mauvin Godinho. The Panchayat Minister, however, gave his green signal for the tour after a delegation of ZP members, South called on him, but the file got stuck up in official circles after senior officials raised queries on the tour after the same was first rejected by the Panchayat Minister.
This is not the first time that Zilla Panchayats members are going on a tour, apparently to study the powers and functions enjoyed by their counterparts in the rest of the country. In fact, these study tours had over the years taken the Zilla members to the international Wagah border in Punjab, the picturesque Kulu Manali in Himachal Pradesh, the pilgrimage centres of Varansi in Uttar Pradesh, some of the North Eastern states of Assam, Sikkim etc.
Sources in the know say successive governments had been liberal in sanctioning the study tours, apparently to keep the Zilla Panchayat members in good humour. While the objective behind the study tour is to enable the ZP members to do a study on the powers and functions enjoyed by their counterparts as per the 73rd Constitutional Amendment, sources say the study tours have not helped devolve the powers and functions to the district panchayat bodies in the state over the last two decades since the ZPs were first established in Goa in the year 2000.
Ironically, the study tour reports compiled by the Zilla Panchayats are gathering dust in the dusty cupboards of the government departments, with successive governments dragging their feet to devolve the powers, funds and functions to the district Panchayat bodies in line with the 73rd Constitutional Amendment.
