There’s good news in store for the Zilla Panchayats. Impressed by the work executed by the ZPs, Panchayat Minister Mauvin Godinho on Tuesday promised powers and functions, besides funds to these district Panchayat bodies in the near future.
He also assured the ZP members, Sarpanchas and panchas that the proposal to hike the monthly honorarium will get a nod at the coming cabinet meeting.
Addressing panchayat representatives at the Ravindra Bhavan after opening the new office of the South Goa Zilla Panchayat in the Old Collectorate building on Tuesday, Mauvin said the government will soon devolve additional functions to the ZPs while declining to go into other details. “I am impressed by the work carried out by the ZPs. The tasks assigned have been achieved by spending less. We are thinking of giving them other functions. I have the functions in my mind and had almost that time convinced CM Manohar Parrikar. They will get the functions in due course of time,” he said.
When the media sought to know whether he was hinting at handing over the RDA to the ZPs, Mauvin said, “We want the ZPs to function better than what these are already functioning. Devolving of powers is under consideration. Right now, I do not want to go into the nature of functions, but certainly these are coming.”
While batting for additional funds for the panchayats, the minister cited resource crunch due to mining ban. On the honorarium, he said the government has already cleared the file for the hike in honorarium of Zilla chairperson, sarpanchas and panchayat members. “The proposal was expected to be cleared at the last cabinet meet, but it could not materialize. I am confident that the proposal will get the nod at the next meeting. The panchayat members will also get the arrears.”
Praising the panchayat bodies for utilizing the funds under the 14th Finance Commission, Mauvin assured of additional funds to finance many a project in the villages.
The minister further told the panchayat officials, including the BDOs, to act as catalysts to take the schemes to the grassroots. “The days of functioning from your cabins are over. You have to move out and explain to the sarpanchas the schemes and how these will benefit the people,” he added.
