The union pointed out that only two officers are designated for the panchayats in Salcete; one of them has an additional BDO charge for Canacona and is available at the office only for a few days.

The Salcete Panchayat Forum (SPF) and the GPRU has held meetings with the two BDOs and Deputy Director of Panchayats and complained that estimates for basic village development work, such as pre-monsoon works, get delayed and in some panchayats the work orders have still not been issued due to lack of full-time officers.

“Pre-monsoon works, for which proposals were given in the beginning of the year, have still not been carried out. Do we have to wait till the next monsoon?” said Santan Rodrigues, GPRU convener. He claimed that a water pipeline behind the cemetery breaks down once or twice every month, but the authorities have failed to rectify the issue despite reminders.

To avoid overburdening the panchayats, GPRU has requested the government not to delegate tasks regarding processing documents for ration card approvals as this was the duty of other government departments.

GPRU and SPF also criticised the DoP and government for not only failing to look into several of their past memorandums appealing for better coordination, funds and other changes, but also failing to clear files sent by the pancahayats from Salcete regarding development project proposals.

The union also appealed to the government to focus on providing better administration to ensure smooth and quick processing of all matters related to panchayats