PANAJI
Panchayat Minister Mauvin Godinho on Thursday admitted that some Block Development Officers (BDOs) are hand-in-glove with erring panchayat secretaries, over whom they have supervisory powers, to perpetuate illegalities in panchayat areas.
He said, he will bring in a new regime for the internal functioning of the panchayat department including the use of biometrics for marking attendance of the panchayat secretaries who often are absent under the guise of conducting field inspections.
Godinho was responding during zero hour in the Goa legislative assembly to Premendra Shet, the MLA of Mayem, who had tabled a starred question on the irregular attendance of panchayat secretaries which was causing hardship to common people in panchayats. When Shet sought to know what was the check on this errant behaviour of the secretaries, Godinho conceded that BDOs who have to conduct inspections at panchayats at least thrice a year failed to do so and they often connive keeping the elected sarpanchas and representatives at their mercy.
The minister assured the House that he will come with fresh guidelines for the internal functioning of the panchayat department and appealed to legislators not approach him with requests for leniency when action is sought to be taken against the erring panchayat secretaries.
“It is often the case that when action is sought to be initiated, MLAs come to their defence and seek withdrawal of the process. It is a problem in Goa where everybody knows each other,” Godinho said and sought a free hand to set things right.
“We will set this right, even if it requires an amendment to the Goa Panchayat Raj Act,” Godinho said.
Meanwhile, Godinho said the government will soon withdraw the provision to allot temporary house numbers -- Enable House Numbers (EHN) -- to illegal houses through panchayats because the provision was being misused to construct illegal structures including in some cases where builders are involved.
The provision was brought in by the State government in 2021, he said to give some identity to people who were living in these illegal homes and also to collect house tax and raise revenue for the panchayats.
