VASCO
On a day when the sarpanch in Old Goa was served with a no-confidence motion within 24 hours of his election, Panchayat Minister Mauvin Godinho on Tuesday said he wanted an amendment in the Panchayat Raj Act to stop toppling of sarpanchas for at least one year.
Godinho was speaking during the oath-taking ceremony of panchas and sarpanchas of the nine panchayats of Mormugao taluka at the Chicalim Panchayat Ghar.
“Constant toppling of sarpanchas and deputy sarpanchas through no-confidence motions hampers overall development of panchayats. To avoid this I want to bring an amendment in the Panchayat Raj Act for the stability of panchayats in Goa,” said Godinho.
“It’s fine if there is mutual understanding among the panchas to share the term for a particular period, but moving no-confidence motion every three or six months hampers the functioning of the panchas and development of the village,” added the minister.
Godinho then turned his attention to the issue of garbage and said the government will take every possible step to curb garbage menace in villages.
“This responsibility will be fixed on the ward panch to keep his/her ward clean and free from garbage,” he added.
He said the amount of expenses incurred by a sarpanch would be increased from Rs 5,000 to Rs 25,000 and other natural calamity disasters will be jointly managed by the sarpanchas and the BDOs of the respective panchayats.
Later when media persons asked him if any time period would be fixed in the amendment for the stability of panchayats, Godinho replied: “No sarpanch and deputy sarpanch should be removed at least for one year in a no-confidence motion and I will make a mention of a one-year minimum period in the amendment.”
Cortalim MLA Alina Saldanha, who was also present for the function, spoke on development issues and assured her support and cooperation to all the panchayats in her constituency.
Among those present at the function included Nuvem MLA Wilfred D’Sa, Panchayat Director Sandhya Kamat and other officials from the Directorate of Panchayats and Block Development Office Mormugao.
