TEAM HERALD
MARGAO: It’s a month and five days and there’s still no sign of the Panchayat Director calling a meeting of the village panchayat of Chinchinim to fill up the vacant posts of Sarpanch and deputy Sarpanch.
Although the Goa Panchayati Raj Act mandates the Panchayat Director to fill up the vacancies in the post of Sarpanch and deputy Sarpanch within 60 days, eyebrows are being raised in Chinchinim as to why the government is dilly dallying in holding early election for the two vacant posts.
The two posts had fallen vacant on April 1 when the Sarpanch Antonio Sequeira and his deputy Melsa Baretto – both owing allegiance to the Velim MLA Benjamin D’Silva – were voted out of office in a no confidence motion.
Since then, the two posts had been lying vacant and the government’s decision to appoint the Administrator to oversee the panchayat function as a stop gap arrangement has failed to deliver the result. Making matters worse for Chinchinim villagers is the fact that the panchayat secretary attends to the panchayat duties every alternate day and that the administrator does not attend the panchayat on a daily basis.
Chinchinim panch Constancio Fernandes informed that the panchayat has not received any meeting notice from the office of Panchayat Director. “I happened to meet the panchayat director last weed and he has promised to issue the meeting notice this week”, Constancio said.
However, when Herald contacted the Panchayat Director, Narayan Sawant on Monday evening, he feigned ignorance that his office has still not convened a meeting of the Chinchinim Panchayat body to elect a new sarpanch and deputy Sarpanch.
“My office has to deal with so many no confidence motions, besides filling up of vacant posts. I will find out from the dealing clerk whether there’s anything pending vis-à-vis Chinchinim panchayat”, Sawant said.
In fact, apprehensions are indeed raised in Chinchinim village whether the government is deliberately delaying the election of a new sarpanch since the new six-member group does not owe allegiance to the powers that be. Coincidentally, the panchayat director’s office had held election to the vacant post of sarpanch and deputy sarpanch of the neighbouring Dramapur-Sirlim panchayat at the fag end of the 60-day period after it became known that the panchayat was going the opposition way.
