Team Herald
MARGAO: Ganv Bhavancho Ekvott organized an orientation programme at Chandor for the newly elected panchayat members with nearly 20 elected members from five panchayats participating along with around 15 villagers.
While initially the panchayat members were apprised of their duties and responsibilities, they were also guided on how best to do their work and were strongly advised to delegate the work through the various committees like the village development committee, etc., made mandatory now.
Some former sarpanchas and panchayat members complained of being dominated by the Secretary who did not allow them to function with threats of complaining to the BDO. They were told that this was happening, because, earlier, the elected representatives used to not read the Panchayati Raj Act and asked to challenge the Secretary to quote the provision of law under which the directions of the sarpanch or the panchayat body was not being adhered to.
One former sarpanch complained of being saddled with a Secretary who was an alcoholic and the government was not taking any action against him despite complaints. He was advised to activate the gram sabha against the Secretary and complain afresh against the secretary.
While a major section of the programme was for the elected members, a short section also elaborated on the duties and responsibilities of the villagers by virtue of being a gram sabha member. This included how the villagers could help the panchayat function smoothly and also how every villager could attend the monthly panchayat body meeting without uttering a word.
Celine Coelho Furtado, one of the participants, appreciated the programme saying it was very enlightening as despite reading the Act many things were made clear and complimented the faculty Julio D’Silva who was assisted for the power point presentation by Cecilia D’Silva.
While five years back Ganv Bhavancho Ekvott had organized this programme only for elected members of Guirdolim and Chandor-Cavorim, this time elected representative of Macasana, Paroda and Ambaulim were also invited. In all three sarpanchas, one deputy sarpanch and 20 panchayat members participated in the programme.
