MARGAO
The election code of conduct coming into force in the State in view of the ensuing municipal elections seemed to have sent the village panchayats in a tizzy, for a different reason.
Reason: With the Panchayat Minister Mauvin Godinho setting March 31 as the deadline to utilise the 14th Finance Commission grants, sarpanchas and elected representatives appeared a worried lot that the municipal election code may put a halt to the ongoing tendering exercise, a situation that may throw all plans to utilise the development grant haywire.
In fact, with the State Election Commission announcing the municipal election schedule on Monday and the code coming into force with immediate effect, many a sarpanch of Salcete village panchayats has been frantically trying to figure out with senior panchayat officials on the fate of the ongoing tendering process.
With no official communique from the State panchayat officials whether the municipal election code will be applicable only to the municipal areas or the entire State, sources in the know informed that the BDO has also sought clarification from the office of the Director of Panchayats to clarify on the election code and whether the office can take the tendering process to its logical conclusion.
Inquiries by The Goan with the Salcete BDO office indicated that the municipal election code may derail the tendering process in the village panchayats if the code is extended across the State, including the villages.
It is learnt that post-meeting with the Panchayat Minister, the BDO office as well as many a village panchayats had speeded up the process of floating tenders to take up development works under the 14th Finance Commission grants. Most of the panchayats had floated tenders to take up various development projects, including projects under the solid waste management.
And, if the BDO office is to be believed, many a tender had reached the stage of opening, one step closer to the process of issuing work orders to the successful bidders. “We have sought clarification from the Director of Panchayats whether the election code will be applicable in the panchayat areas,” sources said.
Sarpanchas are apparently keeping their fingers crossed over the situation, fearing that the code of conduct may hit the panchayats for issuing of Tenders & Work Orders under 14th Finance funds as the local bodies have been already struggling to meet the March 31 deadline.
Carmona Sarpanch Allwyn Jorge said the panchayats in Goa have been running against time to use the 14th Finance funds for developmental works to meet the deadline of March 31. Funds are accumulated in panchayats corpus but same are held up due to procedural delays in preparing estimates by the BDO,” he said.
Jorge said now with the deadline of March 31 to use the funds or to return back to the Centre, the latest Code of Conduct due to municipal elections and Navelim Zilla elections has raised a question mark if at all panchayats will be able to use the funds. Issuing of tenders and work orders will come to a stop. The local bodies, who had struggled to prepare the GPDP through the VDC to get the funds, are yet to received clarification from the panchayat officials,” he added.
