MAPUSA
The villagers of Siolim-Marna are unhappy as in less than three months the Directorate of Panchayat (DoP) has transferred an “efficient” secretary deputed to the panchayat and instead re-posted the old gram sevak back to the panchayat.
Over 100 villagers on Sunday signed an appeal requesting the DoP to revoke the order of transferring the secretary Smitha Parab and reinstate her as the secretary of Siolim-Marna panchayat.
“We were shocked to learn that our most efficient and intelligent Secretary Smitha Parab has been transferred within just three months. In a short span of time she had carried out a lot of paper work in the interest of the village. The works under the 14th Finance Commission which was messed up by the previous gram sevak has been put in order and a lot of RTI applications which remained pending were sorted out her,” said Joachim Barros, Convenor of the VDC.
Several gram sabha members rooted for the secretary and requested the panchayat to ensure that she was retained in the pancahayat.
“The secretary has put a lot of things in order. She has been solving a lot of problems of the villagers. Several RTI applications which were pending for the last six months were cleared by her,” a panchayat member said.
Incidentally, the DoP has re-posted the old gram sevak Rajkumar Chodankar who was replaced by the incumbent after people in the village had demanded transfer of Chodankar.
“Just three months ago, almost 200 villagers had signed a petition demanding replacement of gram sevak Rajkumar who was officiating as the secretary of the panchayat as he had failed to perform his duties. The DoP had listened. What has forced the DoP to reverse the decision?” another panchayat member asked.
The villagers said that re-posting of the gram sevak would turn the clock back as RTI applications were not attended for months together, people were not attended to and senior citizens were forced to return back.
“We will write to the Panchayat Minister and if need be we will go and meet him to request him to reinstate the secretary,” said Sandesh Hadfadkar, a panchayat member.
