With the euphoria of victory in the municipal council elections now slowly abating, the winning candidates must soon get down to the business of administering their towns. They have been elected to do just that and should concentrate their energies on improving the conditions of the town, beginning with the basic amenities and take the development even further. It will take a few days for the councils to meet and elect the chairperson and vice-chairperson and get down to officially beginning their term, but that time can be used to understand the problems faced by the towns and plan strategy to find solutions to these issues.
Goa’s towns are small and the problems are proportionate to the size of the urban area. Not much is asked of the elected councillors, the question is whether these elected individuals can deliver even the little that is demanded of them. Past experience has shown that councils and councillors across the State have failed at times, especially when politics has made its entry through the council doors and disrupted the proceedings. The entire focus should be on keeping politics out of the councils and putting the concerns of the town and the people first.
It is therefore time that, regardless of whether the panel the elected councillors belong to has got a majority in the council, which will determine whether they will be in the ruling group or the opposition, every elected councillor should take a vow to work for the betterment of the ward and the town. Unlike the Zilla Panchayat elections held in March this year, the elections to the municipal councils were not held on party basis. This itself should establish that there is no place and no scope for politics and politicking in the local government bodies, but only constructive criticism that will help the town develop and grow.
Political parties that are claiming victory in the election should from now on keep away from the councils and let the elected councillors decide what is best for their towns. Party politics will only vitiate the atmosphere in the councils ending in unnecessary opposition and the resultant delays. Let the decisions taken in council meetings be arrived at in a spirit of camaraderie and with the best interests of the town.
That should not mean that the council meetings should be bereft of opposition. A constructive opposition plays as major a role in a democratic setup as does the governing side. Therefore, setting aside party affiliations, councillors should look at issues and proposals in the light of whether these will be beneficial to the residents of their town and then take decisions.
The councillors cannot take their responsibilities lightly. They have to keep in mind that over 72 per cent of the eligible voters of the towns cast their franchise in the elections to 11 municipal councils. The voting percentage was 10 per cent higher than five years ago when it had stood at 62 per cent. That’s significant, as local body elections do not normally draw a high turnout. The turnout and the interest generated in the campaign and the results are reasons to believe that the people have come to take local body elections seriously and that they expect that their ward representatives to work. Herald reported extensively throughout the campaign for the municipal elections, calling for better towns and development. Now it is time for the elected councillors to deliver.
Urban Goa has voted and brought in quite a few new faces. They’ve made that change. The change in the towns has to now come from those who have been elected. The inefficiency and lethargy of the past should find no place in the new municipal councils. Planned development for the improvement of the town’s conditions should be what the councillors should focus on.
