MARGAO
The South District Planning Committee (DPC) has missed yet another deadline in the over two-decade old existence of the Constitutionally-mandated panel to prepare a draft-development for the district as a whole.
A District Planning Committee (DPC) is a Committee created under Article 243ZD of the Constitution of India for planning at the district level, with a brief to consolidate the plans prepared by the Zilla Parishad, Panchayats and the Municipal Councils in the district and to prepare a draft development plan for the district as a whole.
Question the South DPC Member Secretary, Florina Colaco and do not be surprised to hear a reply that the DPC will now focus on consolidating a draft development plan for South Goa for the next financial year 2024-25.
But, how about preparing a draft-development plan for 2023-24? Pose the question to the DPC Member secretary and the Officer will concede that DPC has missed the deadline once again like in the last 22 years to prepare a draft development plan.
As per the laid down norms, the DPCs are mandated to prepare the draft-Development and submit the same to the government around December, before the government sets in motion the process for the preparation of the budget estimates for the next financial year.
Going by the Member Secretary’s admission, the DPC could not prepare the draft-Development plan.
Reason: The Member secretary pointed out that some of the Panchayat as well as the Municipal bodies in South Goa district are yet to submit their annual development plans to the DPC to facilitate the Panel to consolidate a draft development plan for the district.
Blame it on apathy or otherwise, statistics dished out by Colaco painted a sorry state of affairs on the planning front. Consider this. Of the total 89-odd village panchayats spread across South Goa, around 38 village Panchayats are yet to submit the annual development plan to the DPC till date.
That’s not all. None of the Municipal bodies located in South, Colaco pointed out, has sent the annual development plans to the DPC to facilitate the body to consolidate the draft plan.
The South Goa Zilla Panchayat too is in the process of preparing the annual plan, if one goes by Colaco’s admission, since she heads the Zilla Panchayat as its Chief Executive Officer.
The end result being that the South DPC has missed yet another deadline in its 23 year existence, indicating that the DPC, South has neither prepared nor submitted a draft development plan to the government for the last two decades.
