TEAM HERALD
teamherald@herald-goa.com
MARGAO: It has been five days since elections to the post of sarpanch and deputy Sarpanch of Dramapur-Sirlim panchayat were postponed in controversial circumstances for want of a Presiding Officer.
But the Directorate of Panchayat is yet to fix a new date to hold the elections and fill up the two posts, which have been lying vacant since the last one month and five days.
When Herald contacted the Directorate of Panchayats to find out whether any new date is fixed for the elections, an official replied in the negative saying that the date will be fixed in due course of time, indicating that the Panchayat Directorate is not in a hurry to hold the polls, reminding that vacant posts require to be filled within 60 days.
But the four-member group of panch members, who have been waiting since the last one month to elect the new sarpanch, has said they fail to understand the inordinate delay on the part of the Panchayat higher ups to fill up the posts when administration of the Dramapur-Sirlim Panchayat has come to a complete halt. “We have been demanding early election to fill up the vacant posts since the rule of the Administrator has crippled the panchayat administration. The villagers are the worst hit. The government even postponed the election scheduled on September 27 on the pretext that the presiding officer Anuradha Sarang fell sick,” remarked panch member Dominic Noronha.
Panch member Bernard Rebello said what is more shocking and surprising is that the panchayat authorities are again dilly dallying on filling up the vacant posts. “We the four panchayat members are all together. May be by delaying the polls, the government and vested interests must be hoping that they will divide the group, but we are all united,” Rebello asserted.
