the goan I network
MARGAO
Will the BJP-ruled South Goa Zilla Panchayat end the current term by creating a record of sorts for its failure to convene even a single meeting of the constitutionally-mandated District Planning Committee (DPC) for
South Goa?
While the elected members and officials of the Zilla Panchayat rushed to the picturesque Andaman and Nicobar Islands to beat the election code of conduct before the State Election Commission announces date for the ensuing polls, no such urgency was displayed by the South Goa Zilla panchayat chairperson Navnath Naik, who is the ex-officio chairperson of the District Planning
Committee.
Take note, the District Planning Committee was constituted by the current Zilla panchayat body, but the DPC did not meet even once either to prepare the road map to get the development plans from the panchayats and municipalities from South
Goa.
Incidentally, South Goa ZP Chief Executive Officer, Agnelo Fernandes, who doubles as the Member Secretary of the DPC, did try to get the development plans from the panchayat bodies, but the exercise came a cropper.
However, questions are being raised why the DPC Member Secretary tried to get the development plans from the VPs when not a single meeting of the DPC had been convened during the last five years to compile the same into a consolidated district plan.
When The Goan called up DPC Member Secretary Agnelo Fernandes to find out whether there’s any plan by the panel to meet at least once before the tenure of the current ZP ends in less than a month’s time, he merely said that he has asked the government to guide the ZP on the issue.
Though no purpose will be served even if a meeting is convened in the next few days given that the consolidated plan is required to be forwarded to the government around November-December, it can only save the BJP-led body from earning the dubious distinction of not having called a single meeting of the constitutionally-mandated planning panel.
Convenor of Goa Panchayati Raj Institutions, J Santan Rodrigues has slammed the ZP body for its utter failure to call even a single meeting of the DPC during the last five years.
