A screenshot of Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, Panchayat Minister Mauvin Godinho and elected members of panchayats during the video conference on Saturday.
PANAJI
Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Saturday interacted with elected panchayat members across the State via video conference to discuss the progress of Aatma Nirbhar Bharat and Swayampurna Goa Programme.
While many elected panchayat members lauded the Swayampurna Goa initiative as it would benefit villages, some felt the mission needs to be fine-tuned, properly implemented and should get the support of people, if the entire exercise is to be a success.
In a tweet, Sawant said, “Held an interaction over VC with all the elected members of panchayats to discuss about the progress of #AatmaNirbharBharat #SwayampurnaGoa Programme. There is great participation & energy on the ground for making Goa self sufficient.”
BARDEZ: Calangute panchayat member and former sarpanch Shawn Martins said the video conference was a very good initiative.
“But it would be nice if all resource persons of different departments come and give a 10 minute presentation to the people directly.”
“It will be nice if we can call people at one time on a pre-fixed date so that they could get an opportunity to listen to officials. You never know which scheme would appeal to the people.”
“The initiative is good but we will have to see how we can reach out to the people,” said Martins.
Anjuna Sarpanch Savio Almeida said on the face of it, the initiative appears to be good but time would tell whether it would click or not.
Verla-Canca Sarpanch Milton Marques said he was not even informed about the video conference.
“As a result, I could not attend the meeting with the CM. None of our panchayat members were also informed and could not participate,” said Marques.
Bastora Sarpanch Ranjit Usgaonkar said the Aatma Nirbhar Bharat and Swayampurna Goa is a very good initiative launched by Chief Minister Pramod Sawant.
“Overall, it will be helpful to the village. Earlier, the schemes would not reach to the people but with this initiative, there is ample scope for schemes to percolate to the grass roots.”
“Secondly, since a government official will visit the panchayat every Saturday, the panchayat members and officials will be compelled to focus on delivery,” he added.
CANACONA: Agonda Sarpanch Pramod Phaldessai said Chief Minister Pramod Sawant’s interaction and suggestions were good and to the point on Atmanirbhar Bharat.
“It was a very fruitful interaction with the chief minister. However, what is required are practical actions, which in turn, needs the active participation of every elected ward panch and the villagers themselves.”
“We had meetings with different department and more meetings are scheduled with officials from the departments of fisheries, agriculture, animal husbandry and tribal welfare,” Phaldessai said.
Poor internet connectivity came to the fore in Khola-Canacona, making it difficult for Khola Sarpanch Purna Nayak and the panchayat secretary to participate in the video conference.
“Due to connectivity issue, we could not properly attend the VC with the chief minister, though the panchayat secretary and I were seated front of the camera.”
“In any case, we are already going in full steam on the Atmanirbhar Bharat concept and we are presently conducting a course on fashion designing for women.”
“Self Help groups are also coming forward to obtain expertise and to start new ventures. The nodal officer and departments concerned are also coming forward with support and cooperation to villagers showing interests in self employment,” said Nayak.
SATTARI: Nagargao Sarpanch Prashant Marathe described the video conference with the chief minister as a “really good experience” regarding the Aatma Nirbhar Bharat, Swayampurna Goa mission.
“I have briefed the chief minister about development underway across different sectors in the village. We also interacted on problems like land ownership right, irrigation water for agriculture development. We were, however, inspired by the discussion with the chief minister,” said Marathe.
Describing his experience at the video conference, Bhironda Sarpanch Udaysing Rane said the programe launched by the State government regarding the Aatma Nirbhar Bharat mission is good for the all-round development of society.
“However, proper management is required during implementation of the mission,” said Rane.
TISWADI: A panchayat member from Sao Mathias informed that though there is good response to the various programmes held under ‘Swayampurna Goa’, there are hardly any takers for the government schemes.
“As of date, not a single application has been availed by the villagers. The entire exercise will be futile if the locals do not show interest,” said the panchayat member.
In Merces, another panchayat member said it is too early to judge about the success of the ‘Swayampurna Goa' initiative.
“The initiative has only started and the public is yet to understand the seriousness of the entire exercise. If the process of availing the schemes is made easy, only then will public come forward.”
“Right now, the documentation is tedious in availing many schemes. And then, people complain that their applications not being cleared even after completing all formalities. An easy and quick process will attract beneficiaries,” the panchayat member said.
With inputs from Agnelo Pereira (Bardez), Kathy Fernandes (Canacona), Uday Sawant (Sattari) and Manuel Vaz (Tiswadi)
