TEAM HERALD
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MARGAO: When the South Goa Zilla Panchayat received instructions from the Department of Tribal Welfare to prepare estimates for execution of works in ST dominated ZP villages, the ZP engineers and staff geared up to meet the requirements before the deadline.
The ZP worked with such a pace that around seven files of construction projects were prepared and submitted to the Tribal Welfare for sanction of funds.
Sadly, the Zilla Panchayat has now realized that the works would not be executed via the district panchayat bodies, but the Department of tribal Welfare have resolved to get the works implement departmentally.
When a delegation of South Goa ZP Panchayat led by Chairperson Nelly Rodrigues called on the Minister for Tribal welfare Ramesh Tawadkar to know the status of the project files, they were told that the department will execute the works departmentally by setting up a technical cell.
Nelly told Herald that the Minister has expressed his unhappiness over the estimates prepared by the ZP engineers and hence want to take up the works under the Tribal Welfare Departmentally.
Coincidentally, the government had mooted a proposal to carry out works in the ZP constituencies at an estimated cost of Rs five crore under the PWD. The proposal had evoked resentment and opposition from the Zilla Panchayat, which has termed the idea as an encroachment on the autonomy of the Zilla Panchayats guaranteed under the Constitution.
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