Chief Minister Pramod Sawant addressing the induction training programme at Ravindra Bhavan, Margao on Thursday.
MARGAO
Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Thursday made a fervent plea to the newly-elected Panchayat representatives not to oppose any project for the sake of opposition, reminding that Goa will be Swayampurna only when the villages become Swayampurna first.
Panchayat Minister Mauvin Godinho announced that the government is ready to bring Amendments to the Goa Panchayat Raj Act to stop new illegal constructions in the state.
The duo was speaking after launching the induction training programme for the newly elected representatives of Panchayat Raj Institutions of South Goa at Ravindra Bhavan, Margao organised jointly by Directorate of Panchayats, Ministry of Panchayati Raj and Goa Institute of Public Administration and Rural Development.
Speaking further, the Chief Minister said the government can achieve various targets with the initiatives of the panchayat members. He urged the Panchas to take responsibility for localisation of 17 Sustainable Development Goals through Panchayati Raj Institutions. He further said that the District Planning Committees will be put in place.
He announced that the government will soon start diploma in Public Administration and Rural Development through GIPARD, even as he lauded the efforts of GIPARD for imparting training to the newly elected Panchayat members.
Panchayat Minister, Mauvin Godinho has expressed his happiness to see educated and qualified youth making it to the panchayats. Pointing out that Panchayati Raj is a local self-government, he said the government has brought many changes for the easy working of Panchayats to manage garbage.
He said the government will soon make Operation and maintenance contract for five years with the suppliers of garbage machinery.
Underscoring the need for every panchayat to make efforts to treat garbage and generate revenue, he called for making the state garbage free.
He said the Directorate Panchayat officers will visit panchayats, promising to make the Panchayat Raj Act more functional. Saying that the allotment of house number will not be tolerated henceforth, he said illegal constructions will not be allowed in the future.
Resource Person, Narayan Dessai; Ex-Sarpanch, Shiroda Panchayat, Amit Shirodkar; Sarpanch, Rachol Panchayat, Joseph Vaz; Secretary, Panchayat, Menino Dsouza, IAS; Chairman, State Finance Commission, Daulat Hawaldar, IAS (Rtd); South Zilla Panchayat Chairperson Suvarna Tendulkar spoke on the occasion.
An Interactive session was held on "Local Body Government: an essential and the key component for the holistic development of the State".
