the goan I network
MARGAO
It’s four days now since Jose Francisco Da Costa was declared elected in the by-election for Ward no VII of Carmona village panchayat, but there’s still no sign of the Salcete BDO Amitesh Shirodkar administering the oath of office to the newly-elected panch nor has the Director of Panchayats issued any order to fill up the post of sarpanch lying vacant for the last three months.
The delay in administering the oath of office to Jose Francisco Da Costa has only raised fears in the village that the panchayat authorities may again dilly-dally in administering oath to a newly elected panch. Last time around, the Salcete BDO had administered the oath of office to the Carmona newly-elected panch Xavier Fernandes after a month, while blaming the head office for the delay in issuing the notification to administer the oath of office.
When The Goan contacted BDO Shirodkar to shed light on the delay in administering oath of office to Jose Francisco Da Costa as it’s now four days since the Salcete Mamlatdar had declared him elected as a panch member, he said his office has till date received no notification from the Director of Panchayat to administer the oath of office to the new member. “I was in Panaji on Thursday and my information revealed that the office of the Director of Panchayats has till date not received any information containing the election of Jose Francisco Da Costa in the by-election,” Shirodkar said, adding ‘the Panchayat Director will issue the notification to administer oath to the new member only after the State Election Commission notifies the office of the panchayat director on the election of the new member’.
Asked to shed light on the election of the Carmona sarpanch which has been lying vacant since the last three months, the Salcete BDO informed that his office has till date not received any communication from the office of Panchayat Director to hold the election.
The election of Jose Francisco Da Costa in the bypoll had raised hopes of an early election for the post of village sarpanch, lying vacant for three months now.
It’s now three months since then Sarpanch Savita Mascarenhas had put in her papers in August last on health grounds. Since then the affairs of Carmona panchayat had been presided over by the deputy Sarpanch Vailona Fernandes.
On September 7, the office of the Director of Panchayats had fixed election for the vacant post of sarpanch, but the vacancy could not be filled up since only a lone panchayat member turned up for the meeting.
