TEAM HERALD
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MARGAO: Plans to put the defunct District Planning Committee for
Barring Curtorim and Ambaulim panchayats, none of the panchayats across the district have submitted their village plans to the DPC for consolidation into a district development plan.
Chairperson of the District Planning Committee, Nelly Rodrigues, however, said the DPC would continue to pursue with the panchayats on the need to prepare and submit the village development plan.
With the panchayats having failed to reply to the follow-up letters sent by the DPC, it has now been decided to involve the panchayat secretaries to get the village plan in place and submit the same to the DPC for consolidation. “It appears that the panchayat bodies have not understood the importance of District Planning Committees, which mandates bottom-to-top planning. That’s the reason why the panchayat secretaries will be involved in taking the exercise to its logical conclusion,” Nelly said.
When the issue figured at the South Goa Zilla Panchayat meeting, Nelly informed the members that she would hold the DPC meeting on May-end which would help review the progress of work and response from the panchayats.
“If necessary, the DPC would hold awareness programme at the panchayat level to guide the sarpanchas and members on the significance of the Annual Development Plan and the role of District Planning committees,” she said.
The District Planning Committees had been lying defunct since the last several years for want of guidance and assistance from the government on how to go about the matter. In fact, the government had been accused of paying lip service to the DPCs even though these committees enjoy Constitutional status.
