VIBHA VERMA
PANJIM: As the State faces challenges to provide people-friendly planning, considering especially that several plans have been opposed by the people including stakeholders forcing the government to re-look at the issues, the ruling coalition has another task on hand over the release of grants to local bodies such as panchayats, municipalities and zilla parishads.
The third State Finance Commission, notified in April 2016, has not met even once till date. The reason: the erstwhile coalition governments failed to provide the required infrastructure and logistics to prepare a comprehensive report recommending the distribution of grant-in-aid to these local bodies.
The Finance Commission, constituted after an alleged delay of six years, was formed under the chairmanship of retired IAS officer V K Jha and had retired Director of Panchayats V S Sawant and former sarpanch Premanand Mhambrey as members. It also had the joint secretary of the Directorate of Municipal Administration as member secretary and the director (Municipal Administration) and director (Panchayats) a co-opted members of the committee. The Commission, besides making a series of recommendations, was to decide allocation of revenue collection like taxes and fees between the government and the local bodies.
As per the notification issued by the department of Panchayat Raj and Community Development then, the Commission was to initially hold full-time office for a period of one year and submit its report before the expiry of its term. But this mission has remained unaccomplished.
A senior bureaucrat told Herald that several reminders to the government were not heeded and this has led to the Commission turning almost defunct. “An official communiqué was submitted to the BJP-led government through the Panchayats Department to provide the Chairman and the members with an office premises and staff. But there was no response. The then Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar had then asked to write to him, which immediately was done but he soon fell ill,” the bureaucrat said, seeking anonymity.
As a result of the delay, the distribution of funds has not been made according to the rules laid down in the Goa Panchayat Raj Act, 1994 but fortunately, grants are being disbursed as per the Central Finance Commission and relevant schemes in the State.
“Just like the Commission is an obligation as per the Act, the office premises and staff are a must for a smooth functioning such as public hearings. The Commission also depends on relevant documents from the concerned authorities/department, but the third Finance Commission was deprived of the infrastructure and logistics because of which we could not meet,” Mhambrey, also former general secretary of the All Goa Panchayat Parishads, said.
The Commission, which has not met owing to evident problems, had roughly decided on emphasising on the environment, CRZ and interior tourism besides other factors.
In 2015, Porvorim MLA Rohan Khaunte had demanded the formation of the third Finance Commission claiming its appointment is pending since 2008-09, when the Congress-led coalition was in power.
Irrespective of the government in power, the State has a long track record of providing poor planning to the people of Goa which has often resulted into reverting these plans for re-drafting.
