RESERVATIONS FOR HOT SEATS IN SALCETE
- Post of sarpanchas reserved for women: 1) Colva 2) Paroda 3) Rumdamol-Davorlim 4) Sao Jose de Areal 5) Sarzora 6) Seraulim 7) Telaulim 8) Varca 9) Velim
- Post of deputy sarpanchas reserved for women: 1) Ambelim 2) Aquem-Baixo 3) Assolna 4) Betalbatim 5) Camurlim 6) Carmona 7) Cavelossim 8) Chandor-Cavorim 9) Curtorim 10) Loutolim 11) Macazana
- Posts of village heads is General: 1) Cana-Benaulim 2) Chinchinim-Deussua 3) Davorlim-Dicarpale 4) Dramapur-Sirlim 5) Guirdolim 6) Navelim 7) Nuvem 8) Orlim 9) Rachol 10) Raia
MARGAO
As the countdown has begun for the election of sarpanchas and their deputies on August 22, political activity is underway behind the scene in several Salcete panchayats where no group or panel has won a clear mandate to form the new local body.
Except for a few, consensus over the choice of sarpanch has eluded the members of many panchayats. In panchayats where individuals have come together to form groups to elect the new village heads, power sharing via rotation appears as the mantra adopted by the members.
If sources are to be believed, the race to form the panchayats is not over yet in many villages.
Take the case of the panchayats in the Velim constituency. No members from any of the panchayats have declared their choice of sarpanchas yet. On the contrary, reports indicate the lack of unanimity over the choice of sarpanchas, and their deputies seemed to have stopped the local players from announcing their candidates to head the panchayats.
Panchas of the 11-member Chinchinim and Sao Jose de Areal panchayats, besides Velim and Dramapur-Sirlim, are yet to announce their choice. In Sao Jose de Areal, where results threw up new faces, efforts are underway to bring the individuals together to form a group to rule the body.
Along Salcete’s coastal belt, which forms part of the Benaulim constituency, only a couple of panchayats have forged a consensus.
Benaulim MLA Venzy Viegas has extended his support to the panchas in three out of the seven local bodies under the banner of Team Seraulim, Team Colva and Team Cavelossim, but a similar arrangement is yet to fall in place in the remaining villages in his constituency. A six-member group has united in Varca to form a People’s Panchayat.
In the Navelim constituency represented by BJP MLA Ulhas Tuenkar, the ruling party is struggling to have its men elected to the hot seat. Apart from Aquem-Baixo, where the MLA has exuded confidence in forming the panchayat, the BJP is in the process of getting elected individuals to support the ruling group to form the panchayats. Take the case of Rumdamol, Tuenkar’s home village, where the BJP had just two out of the seven seats at stake. The party’s tally has now gone up to four after two more members extended support to the ruling group, but the party still needs one crucial to form the panchayat.
The situation is similar in Davorlim-Dicarpale, where the BJP has won a couple of seats but is looking out for a member or two to form the panchayat.
The case is no different in Navelim village, where the BJP has opened its account for the first time and is now banking on local groups to form the local.
Will DPC get local bodies to partake in preparation of draft-development plan?
MARGAO:
Even as all eyes are focused on the elections of sarpanchas to head the grassroots Panchayat Raj institutions, will the District Planning Committee (DPC) play a proactive role and get the newly-elected local bodies to participate in the preparation of the draft-development plan?
A draft-development plan for the South Goa district has not seen the light of the day since the DPCs were first created around two decades ago. Attempts to take up the process of inviting plans from the panchayats and municipalities in the past had only come to a cropper.
Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of South Goa Zilla Panchayat Manuel Barretto told The Goan that his office will set in motion the planning process to prepare the draft-district development plan no sooner than the panchayat bodies are in place.
In fact, with the DPC almost lying defunct since it was set up a year ago, with no draft-district development plan formulated by the planning, the ZP CEO, who is the ex-officio Member Secretary of the DPC, has drawn up a plan to invite the newly-elected panchayats to submit their development plans to the planning body.
Assuming office of the South Goa ZP just a couple of months ago, Barretto pointed out that his predecessor had sent a letter to the civic bodies in the South Goa district, but there was a lukewarm response.
“The DPC received just a handful of development plans from the panchayats. I do not think the municipalities have sent their plans to the DPC,” he said.
He added: “Let the new bodies take shape next week, and we have drawn up a plan to write to each panchayat across the district to send their development plans. The letters will go to the panchayats by the first week of September.”
Not a single draft-development plan has been prepared by the South Goa DPC since its creation around two decades ago. In fact, the body has been rendered defunct over the years for want of government support and lack of interest by the Committee Chairperson and Member Secretary to take the decentralized planning process to the logical conclusion.
Says convenor of Goa Panchayat Raj Institutions, J Santan Rodrigues: “We only hope and pray that the DPC Chairperson and the Member Secretary coordinate with the panchayats to form the draft-development plan and give effect to the 73rd Constitutional Amendment.”
