TEAM HERALD
teamherald@herald-goa.com
MARGAO: South Goa Zilla Panchayat may finally get the Old South Goa Collectorate building as its new premises, but the government has so far not given any concrete assurance on its demand for powers and funds.
When South Goa ZP Chairperson Nelly Rodrigues met the Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar at the District Collectorate this evening, he instructed Collector N D Agrawal to allot a portion of the Old Collectorate to house the ZP office, fulfilling the long-pending demand of the ZP members to have a spacious office.
The government, however, has not taken any decision on the devolution of powers and funds to the district panchayat bodies. Nelly told Herald after his meeting with the Chief Minister that the government is ready to provide only Rs four crore grant to the South Goa Zilla Panchayat. “The Chief Minister had promised to provide a grant of Rs 20 crore to the South Goa ZP, Rs one crore for each of the 20 constituencies, at a meeting held last year. But we have told the government to at least sanction Rs 10 crore, but the government is willing to provide only Rs four crore,” she said.
Nelly said she would have another round of meeting with the Chief Minister to resolve the long-pending demand of powers and functions for the district panchayat bodies.
