Time for Goan villagers to be ‘vigilant’, as people’s self-governance is taken over by babus

Team Herald

PANJIM: With government-appointed Administrators taking charge of 175 village panchayats from Sunday, the former sarpanchas and activists have appealed to villagers to be vigilant over the functioning of the local bodies in view of government servants, right from BDOs to panchayat secretary, dealing with day-to-day affairs of the panchayats till general elections are held post-monsoon.

The government has decided to hold elections of 175 village panchayats after three to four months when monsoon subsides and also in a bid to follow the triple test mandate laid down by the Supreme Court for reservation of wards for Other Backward Class (OBC) communities. The five-year term of existing elected members ended on Saturday.

J Santano Rodrigues, a highly respected people’s village leader of Curtorim said, “Appointments of administrators for village panchayats are a clear indication that the government wants to finish the local body by taking over their powers. All three officers, that is panchayat secretary, administrator and block development officer (BDO) are part and parcel of the government, then where is the representation of the people?

The government wants to bypass the Panchayati Raj Act and take opportunities to dilute the powers of the local body. The government should have continued with the sarpanchas, as he would have been the right person to take decisions pertaining to the villages, Rodrigues said.

The concerned citizens have expressed strong apprehensions over the possible grant of permissions to various developmental and mega projects in their respective villages, which were opposed by the panchayats and gram sabhas, with the government taking charge.

This is not the first time that the government has appointed administrators to look into the functioning of local governing bodies. In 2020, Administrators were appointed across 11 municipalities while in 2017, some panchayats were also looked after by the Administrators. At the same time, some sitting panchayat members feel that the move will hamper the functioning of the village panchayat.

“Having government servants to look into the affairs of panchayats is not a problem but for the next three months vigilance of people will be paramount,” said activist Roland Martins.

Karapur-Sarvan panchayat member Yogesh Pednekar said that the move will affect as many crucial decisions may remain pending and overburden the new body, which will take over post-elections.

Bandora sarpanch Rajesh Naik feels that appointing a government servant as administrator is a wrong decision of the government and will have a cascading effect on the functioning of the local body. “The Administrator should have been a local representative, who is easily available to the people. These monsoon months are crucial and only a local representative, having firsthand info can handle the situation properly,” he said.

Former Mayem panchayat member Kashinath Mayekar said, “Now the village panchayat will be governed by the government officials and not by the local elected representatives, which is against democracy”.

 Longest-serving Camurlim sarpanch Basilio Fernandes said, “Why do we need an election if the government can run a panchayat with administrators? It seems that there is some hidden agenda behind appointing administrators for panchayats. It looks like the government wants to do what they want without the will of the people. This is an attempt to sabotage the people’s power.”

 According to Chinchinim-Deussua deputy sarpanch Valentino Barretto, neither the panchayat secretary nor the Block Development Officer will be fully aware of the issues related to the concerned villages. And hence, the appointment of administrators will certainly affect the functioning of the village panchayats. The government should have given powers to at least the sarpanchas of the respective panchayat to administrate.”

 Former Balli sarpanch Rajesh Faldessai said that villagers will suffer for no fault of theirs. Appointing administrators for panchayats is absolutely an unwanted and wrong decision. Panchayats have gone into the hands of the government. Block Development Officer, panchayat secretary and administrator are all government nominees, so where is people’s participation? Without people’s participation how democracy will survive? Where is Lok Rajya (People’s government)? Will government officers understand village problems? They will work according to government guidelines and villagers will suffer. Government should take steps to hold elections as early as possible so that people’s rule is restored in democracy.

 Social activist Ramesh Naik of Curtorim said, “On one side the government is talking Prashasan tumchya Dari (administration at your doorstep) and on the other side trying to take control of local self bodies by appointing administrators. Appointing administrators is the biggest threat to democracy. It’s difficult to expect development in villages as the government will do what they want. This decision is taking us from democracy to monarchy.”