MARGAO
While the budgeted annual funds for South Goa members last year was pegged at Rs 9 crore, the ZP members demanded a hike in these funds to an annual Rs 50 crores.
According ZP member Nelly Rodrigues, who put forth her view on this issue at the meet while proposing the hike in developmental funds, said such allotted funds could not be utilised in the absence of estimates needed to be prepared by the engineers. “Unless utilisation certificate is given, we can’t get funds,” she told the ZP meet.
The meet also resolved to impress upon the government to fast track work on the State level Committee formulated with a mandate to visit three neighbouring States to study the powers allotted to ZPs there and submit a report to the government to implement the same in Goa. Naik told ZP members that the Committee had been formulated by the erstwhile government headed by former CM Laxmikant Parsekar with the Secretary of Panchayats as the Chairman of this Committee along with some other members.
The Committee could not take its assigned task to its logical conclusion in view of the Model Code of Conduct which came into force for the recently concluded State Assembly elections, informed Naik. The ZP members urged Naik to pursue this matter with the government. In another Resolution adopted at the meet, the ZP members resolved to depute a ZP staff for obtaining the status of work at the proposed new South Goa ZP office in the old South Goa Collectorate office in Margao.
Earlier, ZP member Govind Gaonkar moved a Resolution congratulating Cuncolim MLA Clafacio Dias and Nuvem MLA Wilfred D’Sa --- both South Goa ZP members --- for their election as MLAs even as the ZP members hoped that these MLAs will raise the demands of ZPs as regards the sanction of more powers and developmental funds on the floor of the House.
