MARGAO
A pension scheme on the lines of MLAs, hike in honorarium a la members of the Legislative Assembly and increased manpower to tide over the staff constraints echoed at the meeting of the BJP-controlled South Goa Zilla Panchayat on Monday.
The ruling members stopped short of saying they would fight for their rights and function, aware their own party is ruling the state. They, however, made their demand in the form of request for a hike in honorarium, a pension scheme and to beef up the manpower with full time officials so as not to antagonize the powers that be.
A ruling party member was categorical in saying that the South Goa ZIlla Panchayat have 25 constituencies, with each constituency playing host to around 15,000 voters, dishing out a signal that the ZP members too have a large electorate to cater to.
They pointed out that the ZP should be equipped with men and machinery, including vehicles for the movement of officials in all the 25 constituencies.
During the debate, Chairperson Suvarna Tendulkar admitted that the accounts and technical officials are not working full-time at the ZP body, only making their presence felt during two days of the week.
“The Accounts officer comes to the office only for two days. The Executive engineer and the Assistant engineer also comes twice a week. The South ZP have five junior engineers, out of which one is full-time, while the remaining four JEs are available only for two days”, she said.
She added: “Due to the manpower constraints, work at the Zilla Panchayat has been adversely affected. We have dashed off a letter to our department to take cognizance of the manpower constrains and evolve a solution so that development work does not come to a halt”.
To a question, Tendulkar said the ZP members had drawn attention of the Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and Panchayat Minister Mauvin Godinho on the request of members for a hike in salary and honorarium. “The duo had promised to effect a hike, but we will again talk to the government”, she said.
Complimenting outgoing ZP member and incumbent Navelim MLA Ulhas Tuemkar for taking up the issues facing the ZIlla Panchayats, Tendulkar said the members were categorical in saying the present honorarium is not sufficient to meet their requirements.
The meeting also saw the ZP members demanding that the government give the Octroi fund back to the ZIlla Panchayats.
“They have also demanded that the ZIlla Panchayats should also be involved in the implementation of the Mgnrega scheme”, she added.
To another question, the ZP Chairperson pointed out that the South ZP body has so far taken up around 400 works across the district through 13 tenders. ‘The ZP body will be floating another tender on Wednesday to take up another 35 works. We have not discriminated against any members and the funds are equally distributed amongst all the 25 members”, she added.
