Given that in Goa, besides just a few developmental works that Zilla Panchayats (ZPs) can undertake their role is mainly supervisory in nature, the elections to the two ZPs in the State have drawn more interest than the institutions merit. The past few weeks, ever since the government decided and then passed an ordinance that the ZP elections will be held on party lines, the district panchayats have occupied space in the media and been the focus of attention. While not important institutions by themselves where work and development are concerned, the politics that could be played out now that parties have got involved in the poll, has led to the increased publicity.
Consider this, the only source of own income that the ZPs have is from the sale of tender forms. For everything else they depend on grants from the government, which the district panchayats have been fighting for since they were first set up in early 2000.
“Without finance how will the ZPs function?” asks Adv Amrut Kansar, who was a member of the committee that drafted the Panchayati Raj Act for Goa. “By not giving the ZPs any finance, they are kept at the mercy of the panchayat minister. If they want funds they have to go to the panchayat minister and ask for it. There has to be a separate fund for the ZPs. That fund has never been created,” he added.
The grants to the ZPs are mainly for financing developmental works and to meet administrative expenses, but they have always been hard to come, grumble the elected representatives.
While funds are a major issue that has led to the ZPs not being able to deliver, the disinterest that the government shows in empowering the ZPs gives rise to the belief that the institutions were constituted only because this was mandated by the Constitution.
“I would say that this experiment has not been experimented. Just because the Constitution provides for ZPs, Goa had to toe the line,” says former union minister of state for law, Ramakant Khalap.
“The 73rd amendment to the Constitution provides much more than just the creation of ZPs. They have lots of functions that in a small State like Goa are not feasible. Firstly, there is a clash between the MLA and the ZP member, secondly funds are not coming and finally the powers and privileges have not been devolved,” adds Khalap.
Agrees Soter D’Souza who volunteers with the Centre For Panchayati Raj, “ZPs have never functioned in Goa because they are duplicating the work of the village panchayats,” he says. He, however, has a different take on the MLA-ZP member relationship. “Except for a few elected members who are fighting for powers and working at the district level, the others are happy to occupy the position and forward the work of the local MLA and the party. The spirit of Panchayati Raj is missing,” says D’Souza.
There are actually two kinds of games being played here. MLAs put up their confidantes in ZP constituencies in their area of influence and should the candidate win then, he merely acts as the MLAs agent in the ZP. On the other hand, politicians aspiring to enter the Assembly use the ZP as a stepping stone to gauge their popularity, a fact that few MLAs are comfortable with. It results in a tough call as the MLA then will attempt to block any development works that the ZP member wants to undertake. Four members of the current Assembly who have moved up from the ZPs are Congress MLAs Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco from Curtorim and Chandrakant (Babu) Kavalekar of Quepem, and BJP MLAs Subhash Phal Dessai of Sanguem and Michael Lobo of Calangute. Another MLA who was also a ZP member and was elected in 2012 was the late Matanhy Saldanha, who passed away just days after the election.
Given Goa’s historical background, Khalap and D’Souza suggest that taluka panchayats would have been better options for Goa, than district panchayats.
“Earlier we had taluka committees which comprised the MLAs and the sarpanchas of the taluka. I had proposed a different setup. By amending the law and describing our talukas as zillas, we could have each village elect a member to this ZP and these members could work for the taluka. This could also include the municipalities that are left out from the present system,” says Khalap.
“Goa’s administration, even during the Portuguese time, has always been at the taluka level and never at the district level. I feel that if Goa had sought a two-tier system of village panchayats and taluka panchayats instead of district panchayats, it would have worked better,” says D’Souza.
Before Liberation, Goa’s administrative system was built around municipalities in each taluka. Each taluka, or concelho as it was then known, had a ‘camara municipal’ that had representatives from the ‘freguesias’ or parishes/villages in their jurisdiction.
As Goa heads to another ZP election, there are doubts on whether these institutions can change the lives of the people.
