CHANDOR: The Chandor-Cavorim village panchayat which is part of the Cuncolim Assembly constituency has seen two sarpanchas since 2012 elections. The panchayat was reserved for a woman Sarpanch and five ladies were elected as panchas to the seven-member panchayat even though only two wards were reserved for women.
The seven elected members of the panchayat include Lucia Coutinho, Marcelo Fernandes, Etelvina Antao, Reve Dias, Santurninha Fernandes, Andrew Peixoto and Elizaberta D’Costa.
The financial position of the village panchayat is not satisfactory” the auditors have mentioned in the panchayat’s Audit report for 2015-2016. It is observed that the panchayat did not utilise Rs 29,89,111.45. Even in the budget estimates, though Rs 39.46 lakh were proposed to be spent, only Rs 20.75 lakh were spent.
The panchayat is also found to be a tad lax in collection of the taxes and hence has to rely largely upon government grants for its income or receipts. Although it collected around Rs 2.40 lakh by way of house tax, the outstanding house tax is stands around the same amount. Similarly, though Rs 12,390 was collected as trade tax an amount of Rs 15,109 is yet to be collected.
The panchayat has constituted the three standing committees — Production Committee, Social Justice Committee and Amenities Committee, however, not a single meeting of these committees has been held for the last five years.
Besides, it has also constituted a Garbage Management Committee, a Supervisory Committee and a Ward Development Committee. Of these the Supervisory Committee has not even met once, the Ward Development Committee has not met since 2015 and only the Garbage Management Committee has been holding regular meetings and has worked consistently to manage the garbage in the village to give it a relatively cleaner look than the neighbouring areas.
The panchayat generates income as it has leased out premises to the Telephone Department and Post Office. The rent has been revised only during the current financial year after much pressure from the gram sabha members and from the auditors. The post office is now paying a rent of Rs 3,000 per month while the Telephone Department has been asked to pay Rs 2,645 per month.
The panchayat has been regular in holding the four annual gram sabhas and the other four special gram sabhas.
However, the attendance is a cause for concern. At the regular gram sabhas, the attendance on an average is around 80 to 100 people, which is less than the required 10 per cent to form the quorum and therefore the meetings are usually adjourned and re-convened half an hour later.
None of the panchayat members were willing to disclose whether they would contest the ensuing panchayat elections or not.
However, sarpanch Lucia Coutinho said it would depend largely upon who is elected as the MLA
