TEAM HERALD
MARGAO: Salcete coastal belt may be the home of OBC communities, including traditional fishermen, toddy tappers and other communities.
Strangely, the Zilla Panchayat constituencies falling within the jurisdiction of the coastal belt — spanning from Cavelossim to Majorda – have never once been reserved for OBCs since the Zilla Panchayats came into existence in the year 2000.
Statistics reveal that the ZP constituencies of Benaulim and Colva, besides coastal villages in the erstwhile Chinchinim constituency, were in the past reserved for women, but not for OBCs despite the significant presence of these communities along the coastal belt.
Take the case of Colva. The constituency has been represented by incumbent South Goa ZP Chairperson Nelly Rodrigues since 2000. Colva along with Benaulim represented by two-time ZP member Maria Rebello, has never been reserved for the OBC .
Benaulim MLA Caitu Silva have expressed surprise over the unique situation and felt that certain people must have done the delimitation without taking the ground realities into account.
On the other hand, the Velim ZP constituency has once again been reserved for OBCs, this time for OBC women. This is the third successive time that Velim ZP constituency has been reserved – twice for OBC and this time for OBC women.
Congress general secretary Joe Dias has cried foul over the delimitation process. “How can Velim constituency be reserved for the third time in a row when constituencies such as Colva and Benaulim have not been reserved for the OBCs even once”, he wondered.
Meanwhile, in the eye of a storm in Navelim and Velim respectively over the delimitation exercise, Fisheries Minister, Avertano Furtado and his Velim counterpart Benjamin D’Silva on Friday feigned ignorance on the reservation of Navelim and Velim ZP constituencies.
Both MLAs supporting the ruling BJP government washed their hands off over the reservation of the Navelim and Velim ZP constituencies for OBC and OBC (women) respectively. “I have no role to play in the reservation of the Navelim ZP seat for the OBC. I was not at all consulted by the government”, Avertano told Herald on Friday.
Avertano maintained that he had decided to back George Barretto for the Navelim ZP seat since day one, adding that the government did not consult him before reserving the seat for the OBC. “There are hardly any OBC families in Navelim. Rough estimates showed the total number of OBC voters in Navelim is around 725, while there are another 250 voters in Dramapur village. Now, I am told that Navelim is reserved for OBC since Sarzora village, which is a part of Navelim ZP seat, has around 1800 voters”, he added.
Avertano’s Velim counterpart Benjamin D’ Silva echoed similar sentiments when he firmly denied his hand behind the delimitation. “How can I be blamed for the reservation of the seat for OBCs when I had no role to play. It’s not fair to reserve the Velim seat for the third time in a row”, he said.
Both Avertano and Benjamin have called on Panchayat Minister Dayanand Mandrekar to voice their disquiet over the reservation of Navelim and Velim seats, but in vain. “The panchayat minister says he has nothing to do with the delimitation exercise as it was carried out by the officials”, both Avertano and Benjamin said.
