Uproar marks South ZP meet over panel constitution to look out for land
MARGAO, JULY 30
Uproar marked the meeting of the South Goa Zilla Panchayat on Friday over who should head the three-member committee constituted to look out for land towards the construction of a Zilla Bhavan.
The meeting witnessed verbal duel and noisy scenes between the ruling and opposition members after Chairperson Maria Rebello suggested that the panel should be headed by Member Dayanand Pagi. This evoked sharp reaction from members Nelly Rodrigues and Domnic Gaonkar.
At one stage, the Chairperson said that the matter should be left for Nelly to decide as the members claimed she has been fighting for the Zilla member for 10 years.
On the other hand, Nelly suggested that the three member committee should comprise of Dayanand Pagi, Domnic Gaonkar and Edwin (Cipru) Cardozo.
Nelly said that Domnic should be on the committee as the land in question has been identified by him at Raia and will be in a better position to monitor the works.
During the verbal duel, Domnic charged the ruling group for doing the “setting” on who would form part of the committee.
Incidentally, confusion prevailed as to who was finally appointed as Chairman of the Committee. When the ZP Chief Executive Officer N S Navti was contacted by newsmen covering the meeting, he initially said that the meeting decided to appoint Domnic Gaonkar as the Chairman since he will be in a better position to coordinate with the donor of the land.
Navti, however, later said that since Chairperson Maria had suggested the name of Daya Pagi, the ZP member from Poinguinim will head the three-member panel.
The panel is expected to submit the report to the Chairperson within a period of 45 days.
Earlier, the CEO told the members that the ZP has funds to the tune of Rs 1.15 crore and can be utilised for building a ZP bhavan or outright purchase of office space. He, however, informed the members that the ZP is not empowered to acquire land, but can use the fund if the land is donated to the district Panchayat body.
Meanwhile, the meeting discussed the issue of grass cutting machines not being returned by the former ZP members back to the office. In this connection, the CEO said he would be compelled to lodge an FIR against the former members if the machines are not returned back immediately.
The meeting thanked Panchayat Minister Babu Azgaonkar, leader of the Opposition Manohar Parrikar and other MLAs for supporting the demand of the Zilla panchayats.
