MARGAO
A day after the Panchayat Director postponed the election of Colva Sarpanch in controversial circumstances, five ruling-party members drew the attention of the Chief Minister Pramod Sawant calling the postpone lame under the pretext of Covid when the official functioning of government is going unhindered.
Armed with their negative RT-PCR test reports, the five ruling panchayat members, who have been demanding early filling up of the vacant post of Sarpanch, made a petition to the Chief Minister, Panchayat Minister Mauvin Godinho, Chief Secretary, Panchayat Secretary and also called on the Panchayat Director Siddhi Halarnkar to lodge their protest.
In their petition, the five demanded that the panchayat members who are signatories to the letter objecting to the election schedule on June 4, may be ordered to do a Covid test. “In the event of testing positive, they may be given the privilege to participate in the election of Sarpanch by wearing PPE kits, as was done at Zilla Panchayat and municipality election,” the petition stated.
Saying the Panchayat Director’s decision to postpone the election at the eleventh hour is a very serious matter, the five ruling members have called upon the Chief Minister and the panchayat members to fix the date for the election of Colva Sarpanch at the earliest.
The petition drew the attention of the government to the fact that the election for the vacant post of Sarpanch was fixed on June 4 after much delay and pleading. “We do not hesitate to point out that the delay was specifically done to create a faction among the elected panchas,” the petition stated.
Sources said the Panchayat Director who is in the eye of a storm over the postponement of the election scheduled on June 4, is believed to have assured the delegation of the ruling Colva members that a corrigendum will be issued immediately to fill up the vacancy of the Sarpanch at the earliest.
The post of Colva Sarpanch had fallen vacant on March 18 after outgoing Sarpanch Anthony Fernandes quit as part of the arrangement worked out by the ruling group to rotate the chair. Though the Goa Panchayati Raj Act mandates the Panchayat Director to hold the vacancy within 60 days, he failed to do so.
