MAPUSA
At least three panchayats in Bardez denied villagers an opportunity to submit proposals for the gram sabha thereby suppressing people’s voice.
The village panchayats of Moira, Candolim and Arpora-Nagoa issued notices with a two-point agenda “ to only read and confirm previous minutes and to approve the 2022-23 budget.
The notice remained silent on inviting proposals from the public for discussion during the gram sabha meeting.
Contrastingly, the panchayats of Assagao, Penha de Franca, Salvador do Mundo and Reis Magos have invited discussions on proposals/suggestions received from the gram sabha members.
Coordinator of Goacan, Roland Martins slammed the panchayats for denying the public the opportunity to place their proposals at the gram sabha.
“It is a violation of the Panchayat Raj Act. They are using the model code of conduct ruse just to block people from submitting their proposals,” said Martins, who runs a ‘gram sabha zagrut za’ campaign to mobilize people to make democracy work.
“If at all the government has issued a circular not to allow public proposals then let them produce the same,” he added.
A senior official at the directorate of panchayat informed that there was an advisory that only development works cannot be taken up at the gram sabha meetings due to the prevailing model code of conduct on account of the assembly elections.
He, however, said that the advisory was silent on budget.
“The panchayats may have decided not to accept proposals from the public as the model code of conduct is in force,” the official said.
According to the Goacan coordinator, the panchayats were using the model code of conduct as an excuse to harass the public by not accepting their proposals.
He further said the Goacan will take up the matter with the Director of Panchayats.
Block Development Officer (BDO) of Bardez, Shiv Prasad Naik, informed that the panchayats should have accepted the proposals and later taken an appropriate decision whether to hold discussions on it or not.
“Public proposals have to be taken. Whether it has to be discussed or not is secondary. Any discussion on development works cannot be taken due to the model code of conduct,” Naik said.
He said the budget was included in the agenda as it has to be approved as per the act.
