the goan I network
PANAJI
The Pilerne“Marra panchayat has received the ‘Cleanest Panchayat’ award in the State for 2018 as part of the Swachh Bharat mission. Pilerne-Marra Sarpanch Amarnath Govenkar received the award from Governor Dr Mridula Sinha, Speaker Dr Pramod Sawant and Panchayats Minster Mauvin Godinho.
Speaking to The Goan, Govenkar said the panchayat members were delighted as Pilerne-Marra had received the prestigious award. “The efforts of every panch member to keep the village clean has yielded results. The credit also goes to residents for supporting the panchayat in maintaining cleanliness in the village,” said a jubilant Govenkar. “The panchayat has appointed a contractor to collect garbage on door-to-door basis and we have given bins to each household to store wet and dry garbage separately.”
“Besides, the panchayat has now been empowered to impose fines on those who do not hand over segregated garbage or throw garbage on roads. Panchayat has decided to act strictly in this regard. Our efforts to maintain a clean village will continue in future as well,” said the sarpanch.
Meanwhile, Housing Minister and Saligao MLA Jayesh Salgaonkar congratulated Pilerne Panchayat in his Saligao constituency for receiving the cleanest panchayat award, but went on to add that Pilerne panchayat had a financial advantage over other panchayats in his constituency.
“The revenue of Pilerne panchayat has increased substantially in recent years on account of Mall de Goa, hotels and other business enterprises, which is why they are able to spend on cleanliness in their village. This is not the case with other panchayats in my constituency. Saligao, Sangolda, Reis Magos and Nerul are also making efforts but financial crunch has been a main hurdle to them. If the government provides grants to financially weaker panchayats, then those panchayats will also strive to compete for the award,” he said.
