MARGAO
Absence of Ministers, MLAs and MPs at the South Goa District Planning (DPC) meeting on Wednesday attracted the ire of Panchayat Raj activist J Santan Rodrigues, demanding the MLAs should help the DPC to consolidate the draft Development plan for the district and facilitate bottom to top planning.
In fact, Santan, who heads the Goa Panchayat Raj Institutions (Goa PRIs) as its convenor, slammed the elected representatives, after he found the vacant chairs in the conference hall of the South Goa distirct Collectorate, forcing ZP Chairperson Suvarna Tendulkar to postpone the DPC.
“Credit goes to the ZP Chairperson Suvarna Tendulkar, who heads the DPC, for the initiative to call for the DPC and preparing the draft-plans. But, the absence of the Ministers and MLAs for the meeting, shows the lack of seriousness by the elected representatives to take the bottom to top planning forward to the logical conclusion”, Santan said.
He said the Goa government and the MLAs should take a cue from the south Indian state of Kerala, where the DPCs are functioning as per the mandate of the Indian constitution.
