MARGAO: Representatives of Panchayat Raj institutions, Zilla and Panchayat bodies, besides activists which met under the banner of Goans for Goa here on Monday have formed a Front “Goa’s Movement Against Panchayat Ordinance” to oppose government decision to hold Zilla and Panchayat election on party lines.
GMAPO will meet on February 13 to decide the date and the venue for the Public meeting and to take the movement to the villages.
Addressing the media after a meeting, Goans for Goa President Kennedy Afonso said the Committee will meet on February 13 to finalise the date and the place for a public meeting against the government decision. “At today’s meeting, we have decided to ask the Governor to rescind the Amendments to the draft rules and to maintain the sanctity of the local bodies and to leave them as sacred bodies of self-governance without contaminating it with party politics with an eye on increasing the vote bank of political parties”, Afonso said.
Social Activist Aires Rodrigues said the government should do a re-think as the Panchayat Ordinance is against the interest of Goa and Goans. “We are only asking the government to follow the principles of democracy by consulting the people at the grass roots and the stake holders. The government Ordinance will only take the present political rot to the grass roots”, Aires said, even as he accused ex-chief minister Manohar Parrikar for being the brain behind the decision to hold ZP and Panchayat polls on party lines.
North Goa ZP Chairperson Jayesh Salgaonkar said the North Goa ZP will fully support GMAPO in the fight against the ordinance. “The government intends to murder democracy in Goa. By holding ZP and Panchayat polls on party lines, the government wants to transfer the village powers to the MLAs and Ministers”, he charged.
Asserting that both the North and South Goa ZPs did not witness any instability during the current term, Salgaonkar said the government only wants to prop up their puppets at the grass root and extend their rule at the villages.
Rachol Sarpanch Joseph Vaz, Goa Suraj Party chief Floriano Lobo, Durgadas Kamat and other also spoke. President of Goa PRI Santano Rodrigues and a couple of sarpanchas also attended the meet.
