MARGAO
Colva panchayat is one of the few panchayats in Salcete that did not witness political instability during the current term.
In fact, only recently, outgoing Sarpanch Anthony Fernandes quit office to pave way for his successor from the ruling group to take over the reigns of the office as part of mutual understanding to occupy the chair on rotation.
But, the panchayat administration appears to be in a flux, with over a dozen panchayat secretaries presiding over the Colva panchayat in the first four years of the current five year term.
Strange it may seem, but true. Even before the new sarpanch could take over on June 10, the government once again brought in Amol Tilve as the new panchayat secretary.
Take note, Amol Tilve was shunted out of Colva panchayat just around three months ago. And, he is back in the saddle at Colva as the government has transferred incumbent secretary to Aquem-Baixo to take over Tilve’s place.
This is the second time in three months that Amol Tilve will be presiding over the affairs of the Colva panchayat as its secretary. Sources informed that Tilve’s name figure in the august list of panchayat secretaries who have occupied the administrative chair on more than one occasion.
He was first posted to the Colva panchayat in December, 2017 and presided over the administration for five months before being shunted out of office. He returned back to the coastal panchayat a year and half later before being shunted out, only to return back to the saddle again.
Incidentally, a glance at the list of Colva panchayat secretaries would reveal that a couple of secretaries enjoyed the distinction of repeatedly holding the administrative charge of Colva.
Sandhya Shirodkar, who was posted at Colva since the commencement of the five-year term held the distinction of having occupied the position thrice during this current term. Sandhya held the position for around three months before she was again shunted out for reasons unknown.
Paresh Rane is another secretary who held the Colva panchayat secretary’s post twice before being shunted out of office.
Outgoing sarpanch Anthony Fernandes said the panchayat administration had suffered during his stint in office due to the frequent transfers of panchayat secretaries. “During my four years in office, I had seen as many as 11-12 panchayat secretaries taking over the charge and being shunted out within months later. This had badly affected the administration”, he said.
In fact, the outgoing sarpanch suspects some foul play over the sudden transfer of the incumbent secretary Rajendra Naik and return of Amol Tilve ahead of the Colva sarpanch election.
Secretary of Colva Civic and Consumer Forum Judith Almeida wondered why Colva is racing ahead of other panchayats over the transfer of secretaries, saying frequent transfer of administrative heads do not augur well for the smooth functioning of the grass-root level bodies.
