Believe it or not but the newly elected panchas from newly formed Quelossim Panchayat have been facing public embarrassment since the time they have been elected. They have to bear this discomfort because they are forced to operate by sharing the office of the Cortalim Village Panchayat in absence of a full-fledged office. The new sarpanch as well as other six members of Panchayat body are forced to operate in the open public area of Cortalim panchayat office.
“We have no option but to sit outside in public area of Cortalim Village Panchayat office. On several occasions we had requested the BDO office, personally as well as officially, to issue orders for shifting Quelossim Panchayat office to a new place identified and allotted to us by the parish priest of Quelossim church. However, we are yet to receive the orders,” said Quelossim Sarpanch Maria Colaco.
As per the Quelossim Panchayat records, on December 22, 2016, the state government issued notification for the bifurcation of village Panchayat of Cortalim-Quelossim into two separate Panchayats namely Cortalim VP and Quelossim VP. Later after the delimitation of wards under the Quelossim VP, the new Panchayat body got elected and on June 19, 2017 Maria Colaco and Sebastiao Serrao got elected unopposed as Sarpanch and Deputy Sarpanch.
Though the new sarpanch and her deputy were very well aware that they will face an uphill task to create infrastructure in the jurisdiction of the new Panchayat, they had never dreamt that they would be left to face such bizarre situation where they would be attending and addressing grievances of the villagers (even if it personal matter) by sitting outside among the public and not inside closed doors. What is more worst is the fact that even after six months (after separate VP was notified) the state panchayat administration is yet to provide required office staff for this new Panchayat. This has upset not only the Quelossim body but also the Quelossim villagers who are forced to travel long distance till Cortalim VP office to get their work done.
“Initially after getting elected as Sarpanch I decided to remain regular to the office as people had elected us with many aspirations. Now the big question is how to fulfill their needs as we have no office, nor the government has provided us with staffs. Many times villagers have approached me with their personal grievances, however I have no office so far and thus I have been attending the villagers either in the public area or at the corridors of Cortalim VP. This has been going on since last one month and we don’t know how many more months we will have to operate like this,” said a disappointed Colaco.
Ironically, the list of issues faced by this new Panchayat is quite long. As per information available, this new panchayat has no funds available in its treasury as the government is yet to give their required grants due to which all developmental proposals are pending. Similarly there was urgent need for this new village to have full time secretary, however, even this demand remains pending till date.
At present Cortalim VP secretary Asha Mesta is having additional charge of Quelossim panchayat and has been handling affairs of both the panchayats by sitting at Cortalim Panchayat office. This sometimes creates confusion for her as well as the villagers.
“Practically every day we have been requesting the BDO to deploy staff and to issue orders clarifying as to which days of the week Asha would be handling affairs of Quelossim VP and of Cortalim VP. However, in reply we have only heard excuses from the BDO that he is busy attending meetings. This imbroglio continues even after MLA Alina Saldanha has asked the BDO and Panchayat director to expedite the process,” said Deputy Sarpanch Sebastiao Serrao.
The new Quelossim Panchayat needs special attention, besides extra financial support and special attention from the state government, but the way things are going on, it only proves that all is not well with the Quelossim Panchayat.
