MARGAO: The Guirdolim gram sabha on Sunday approved the budget for 2019-20 and it was decided that in future the budget be prepared by a committee of the villagers as some members lamented that their suggestions were not considered by the panchayat.
Incidentally, once again Sarpanch Malisha Carvalho was on leave and Deputy Sarpanch Franky Rodrigues presided over the gram sabha as was done last time too where the budget was presented and the villagers constituted a committee to give suggestions to the budget.
The total expenditure envisaged in 2019-20 is Rs 77.08 lakh as against the total projected receipts of Rs 38.51 lakhs which is backed by an opening balance of Rs 52.42 lakh that makes it a surplus budget.
Savio Antao, one of the member of the committee lamented that the suggestions made by the committee were not incorporated by the panchayat as reflected in the fact that the expected receipts from taxes was lower than the actual taxes collected during 2018-19.
However, it was decided that in future a committee would prepare the budget which would be discussed at the panchayat body meeting and then presented to the gram sabha.
Incidentally, the issue of cutting dangerous trees was discussed with some questioning why the panchayat should cut trees belonging to individuals. However, panchayat member Jose Antao said that if the Collector is informed that a tree is posing threat to public, then he orders its cutting and recovering the charges from the owner of the tree.
