MARGAO: Against the backdrop of the by-poll elections for three Zilla Panchayats (ZP), the Goa Panchayati Raj Institutions Union (GRPIU) has questioned the government’s seriousness in achieving goals the ZP is supposed to accomplish, given the multiple delays in carrying out district planning activities as envisaged under the Indian Constitution.
GRPIU, which has been writing to various authorities for the past several years, lamented that the government and the South Goa ZP (SGZP) is not interested in preparing the constitutionally-mandated district development plan. Given that successive SGZPs had failed to take this issue to the logical end, GPRIU questioned the priorities of the elected ZP members, as well as the government
While the SGZP members are on the District Planning Committee (DPC) and the SGZP Chief Executive Officer (CEO) is the ex-officio member of the DPC, there has been no progress in preparing the district development plan. MLAs and the MP are also part of the committee but GPRIU lamented that there has been no interest shown by the government or the members on this matter.
GRPIU had been demanding that the DPC meetings be held, which would help expedite the matter.
While the Union had in the past persuaded village panchayats to prepare village-development plans, there was a gap from the municipalities in forwarding their plans for their respective towns, which were also required for the total compilation of the comprehensive district development plan.