Team Herald
MARGAO: Five members of Varca panchayat have decided to make it a neutral panchayat. The five panchas have said they did not wish to be affiliated with any politician and would instead work with the people.
Varca is one of the first panchayats to reach the finishing line and form the panchayat. The members have written to the Panchayat Director and have intimated them of the formation of the Panchayat. And Roland Fernandes has been selected as the new sarpanch.
On their re-election, Roland said that his group has been re-elected because of their hard work.
Newly elected panch and former sarpanch Anthony Reginaldo Fernandes said, “We are a neutral panchayat and it will be one because, today, I have seen five terms of panchayat politics and observed how politicians use the panchayats as if it is their own. We are bound to the Panchayat Director and not to the politician. I say this because in the past people have considered the panchayat to be of the politician and not the people. We want to change this and make it a people centric panchayat.”
When asked about Benaulim MLA Churchill Alemao’s statement earlier that Varca Panchayat is with him, he said, “We have clarified that we are neutral and not affiliated to any of the politicians.”
This leaves the heavy weight Churchill Alemao with five panchayats. It is a reality check for the heavy weights of Salcete and proof of how panchayat politics has come a long way in Salcete.
