PANJIM: With State government finding it difficult to get a new chairman of Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB), it has further extended the term of current chairman Ganesh Shetgaonkar by another three months, ending September.
This is the third extension granted to the Board, including the post of Member Secretary (MS) held by Shamila Monteiro, since December 2020, when its term had expired. A three-month extension was first granted from December 15, 2020, which was later extended in March 2021 till June 15.
In a notification issued, Director Environment Dashrath Redkar has said that to ensure continuity in the functioning, the term of the existing Board is extended by three months with effect from June 15 or upto the date the Board is re-constituted.
Meanwhile, the Environment Department received only one application to the fresh advertisement issued in May, inviting applications for the post of chairman.
Before that, the applications were invited in October 2020, for which total eight had applied; however only three candidates fulfilled age criteria of 56 years.
“This time, only one application has been received. So total, there are four applicants now for the post of chairman,” sources said.
For the post of chairperson and MS, knowledge of environmental sciences and environmental management has been made mandatory. According to new guidelines, there would be 19 members’ board instead of 16 members that includes Chairperson, MS and 17 members to be nominated by the State government to represent interest of agriculture, fishery or industry or trade and local authorities functioning within the State.
The recruitment would be done by the Selection Committee on contract or deputation basis.
