MARGAO
The South Goa zilla panchayat office witnessed an uproar on Thursday after some members claimed they have been discriminated against in respect of allocation of development funds under the 15th Finance Commission.
South Goa zilla panchayat Chairperson, Sanjana Velip later told the media that the meeting of the Zilla panchayat has decided to allocate more funds to the constituencies which received less money in the last one year. The ZP Chairperson, however, denied discrimination, saying that not only the opposition members, but even a couple of ruling party members received less funds under the Finance Commission because of the issues of uploading the development files.
At the zilla panchayat meeting chaired by Chairperson Sanjana Velip, Congress Curtorim zilla panchayat member Michele Rebello complained of discrimination against the opposition members in the allocation of 15th Finance Commission funds for development works. She read out the list of members who received more funds from the Finance Commission for development works than other members, raising questions of discrimination.
Michelle demanded to know who was responsible for putting estimated amounts for the works uploaded on the e-gram Swaraj portal as far as the 15th finance funds are concerned as there were a lot of discrepancies in the allocation of funds. “Certain constituencies have been allotted huge amounts up Rs 36 lakhs while Curtorim ZP constituency had to be content with just Rs eight lakhs. There was a deliberate delay made by the JE to complete and document the files as a result of which not a single file was tendered due to a very low estimation of money kept for Curtorim works”, she said.
She demanded that a resolution be passed to ensure that funds received from the Centre could be divided equally so that at least some work could be done in the constituencies of the ZP members.
Both Chairperson Sanjana Velip and vice-Chairperson Sidharth Gauns Desai insisted there was no malafide intention behind some of the constituencies receiving higher allocation of funds. They assured that those members, who received less funds, will be adjusted at the time of executing new development works.
The zilla panchayat meeting also saw members demanding blacklisting of contractors for their failure to execute the works on time. In fact, agitated members drew attention of the chair that junior engineers are forced to make round of the courts with some contractors taking the zilla panchayat to the Courts for settlement of issue. Almost all the members, cutting across party lines, demanded blacklisting of erring contractors over their failure to execute works on time.
Members expressed fears that they will not be able to exhaust the funds in their respective constituencies given that the zilla panchayat polls are just a year away.
The members also demanded that the zilla panchayat do the follow up with Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on the question of a bhavan for South Goa zilla panchayat.
