Team Herald
MARGAO: Castigating the severe failure to decentralise democracy in Goa, Khushali Jorgo Velip, the outgoing Vice Chairperson of South Goa Zilla Panchayat (SGZP), lamented that despite receiving funds, ZPs have no real power.
He expressed frustration that ministers and MLAs fear that effective work by ZPs could affect their positions.
“I feel Ministers and MLAs are scared that if we do good work we will become MLAs. Even Sarpanchas are given more powers. They call them, but they don’t remember us. We have no powers; we have no rights. Some argue that ZPs are not practical in a small state like Goa,” said Velip, who served for over 20 years in the South Goa ZP.
The first meeting of the SGZP under the chairmanship of recently-elected Chairperson Sanjana Sanjay Velip was held on Tuesday. But the biggest takeaway from that meeting was the announcement made by Vice Chairperson Velip that he would be resigning as per the instructions given by the BJP leadership.
His resignation comes on the heels of the recent resignations of the former South Goa and North Goa ZP Chairpersons and the subsequent elections of new Chairpersons for both the seats.
While speaking to mediapersons after the meeting, Velip confirmed that here too the North Goa ZP Vice Chairperson has been asked to resign but added that it has not been confirmed yet who would take his place.
He added that he would be submitting his resignation on Wednesday itself. The veteran elected representative added that the people can judge his work given his long tenure as a ZP member over consecutive terms.
Earlier on, Sanjana said that as she was new to the office, it would take her some time to streamline the administration.
But, she assured to look into the individual complaints of ZP members regarding their pending projects, alleged misplaced files at the ZP office or larger issues like getting the Octroi fund back to the SGZP for the government or taking action on parking issues.