Orlim panchayat to dissolve ward development committee

MARGAO, MARCH 2
The Orlim Panchayat has resolved to dissolve the Ward Development Committee as per the request of the nine members of the gram sabha.
The Orlim Gaum Rakhonn Manch, however, has taken exception to the partial decision of the Village Panchayat of Orlim to dissolve the Ward Level Committee without passing any resolution to take the initiative to constitute a Ward Level Committee by prescribed norms and procedures.
Manch President Shanty Fortes said the NGO has drawn attention to the fact that the constitution of the ward level committees is a crying need for people-centric planning and has stated that it will be forced to take cudgels against the Village Panchayat for making a mockery of the democratic processes by pursuing them incompletely or improperly.
It has also called upon the Village Panchayat of Orlim to initiate processes to forthwith constitute ward level committees by due process of law.
She recalled that after years of seeking the setting up of a ward level committee, the same had been constituted haphazardly which led to the dissolution of the same. “The OGRM sees this as nothing but an attempt to scuttle grassroots democracy by sabotaging the very processes of formation of committees such as the ward level committees”, she added.
She pointed out that members of the Gram Sabha had repeatedly asked for a ward level
committee, but the same was refused and even a resolution had been passed by the Panchayat that no ward level committee or any other was required in Orilm. “The very process of democracy was bypassed with the committee being constituted without setting the same as the agenda for the said  Gram Sabha meeting and without briefing the Gram Sabha members of the need, the functions or the duties that will be called for of the Committee, so as to enable the gram sabha to take an informed decision”, she added.
”Since its inception, consequently, the Committee did not have a single meeting in the wards to ascertain the requirements of the ward. The committee made proposals, which was sent directly to the PWD for implementation without the same being put before the Gram Sabha or the Zilla Panchayat, where it actually has to go before it is implemented.
Gram sabha members’ objections to the formation of the committee without including women, SC/ST representatives or NGO architects, also went on deaf ears. It is pertinent to note that the Audit Report also pointed out that these committees were not formed together with vigilance supervisory and other committees”, Fortes said.