MAINA: Since panchayat elections in 2012 and till date the Curtorim panchayat has been plagued by the game musical chairs with three women warming the seat, but all three telling us to speak to their husbands to know the affair of the panchayat.
“It’s embarrassing the politics our women played and carried out and did nothing for the panchayat. And sadly because our MLA was anti-BJP and anti-Parrikar, no development was carried out. Our files, our proposals were all rejected and the panchayat fund is deliberately kept pending and it’s really frustrating to be representing the people of Curtorim,” says panch Joaquim Rodrigues who was deputy sarpanch in the first half of this tenure.
Similarly, Delcy Cruz from the village points out that most development in the village took place upto 2009 when the irrigation department built new bandharas for the lakes but post that nothing concrete has been done in the village and the growing garbage in the water bodies is a huge menace.
When questioned, Curtorim MLA Reginlado Lourenco said, “Because I was vocal in the Assembly, the BJP government played dirty politics in my village and work was stalled since Curtorim had four panchayat secretaries transferred over five years. Also most works done were through my personal funds. As for the panchayat and the people, the need is to curb illegal constructions across the village and that needs to be done urgently.”
Admitting that no development was done in the village, Panchayat Secretary Deepak Gaonkar said, “Actually this panchayat has not done any works besides maintaining street lights and clearing garbage on a weekly basis. But besides that the panchayat fund has remained unutilised and nothing much was carried out.”
The problem, we’re told by villagers, is that former panchas fielded their wives in the 2012 polls and hence the women are inexperienced and couldn’t tackle any problem in the village and the husbands who mostly have government jobs were not available to attend to the people’s problems.
Curtorim Sarpanch, Lucy Rebello, “I was a sarpanch for just a few months and not even a year. I hardly had time to do anything and the election code hampered my tenure, so I can’t boast of any achievements but I will admit funds are unutilized and we didn’t do much.”
Previous Sarpanch for 18 months, Rosy Paes asserted, “In my tenure I focused on maintaining the village and keeping it clean and ensuring there was no harm to the many water bodies in the village but no big project was taken up by the panchayat. But now I don’t take interest and only attend the meetings when called for. Also I won’t re-contest. This was a ladies reserved ward and we were forced to take up these positions of panch and sarpanch. Now our husbands and the men of the village are ready to come to power and perform.”
Valentina Braganza who was sarpanch for three out of five years asserted, “I did the usual grass cutting and cleaning of the village and nothing much that I could do in my tenure. But if you want to look into the detailed insights of my work then my husband who I represent at the panchayat will be in a better position to talk to you.”
