the goan I network
MARGAO
The long-delayed meeting of the South District Planning Committee (SDPC) will finally be held today morning as a mere formality, but the question upper most in the minds of everyone is whether the MLAs and MPs from South Goa district will attend the meeting along with other elected members of the SDPC.
The MLAs and MPs are the permanent members of the District Planning Committee and if one goes by officials of the South Goa Zilla Panchayat, notices have been sent to all the permanent members to attend today’s meeting scheduled at 11 am at the South Goa district Collectorate building.
As reported by ‘The Goan’ earlier, this is the first meeting of the SDPC that has been convened during the last five years and comes at the fag end of the term of the South Goa Zilla Panchayat. In fact, a glance at the agenda of the Tuesday meeting of the SDPC shows that the meeting will discuss the minutes of the previous SDPC which was held around five years ago on October 30, 2014, indicating that the SDPC headed by incumbent South Goa Zilla Panchayat Chairperson, Navnath Naik did not hold a single meeting of the planning body during the last five years.
This assumes significance and comes against the backdrop of the fact that the Constitutionally-mandated DPCs are required to consolidate the plans prepared by the Panchayats, Municipalities and Zilla Panchayats and prepare a draft development plan for the district.
Incidentally, the rules mandates that every panchayat and Municipal Council falling in the jurisdiction of South Goa district are required to prepare an annual plan by the end of January of every year and submit it to the District Planning Committee to prepare a consolidated plan before sending the plan to the government for implementation.
