Team Herald
MARGAO: Zilla Panchayat should also be given funds for garbage management like those given to the panchayats and blacklisting contractors who delay developmental works were some of the decisions taken at the second South Goa Zilla Panchayat meeting held on Wednesday.
With 24 of the 25 members present for the meeting, the Zilla panchayat unanimously decided to blacklist contractors who delay works allotted to them. Most of the members pointed out that the contractors keep assuring that they will do the work but never complete them in the scheduled time.
They complained that the contractors do not say that they are not doing the work but only keep assuring that they will do the work but never do it even though the date of completion of the work is specifically mentioned in the work order.
Hence it was decided that such contractors would be blacklisted and members were asked to submit a list of works which are still not completed to the ZP engineer who will initiate the process of blacklisting the contractors.
Some of the members pointed out that garbage by the roadside is a major problem in their constituencies as the panchayats are not dealing with it.
and hence at the meeting on Wednesday it was resolved to ask the government to allot funds to them to deal with garbage in their constituencies.
Suresh Kepekar, who represents Rivona, lamented that even though the Selaulim dam that provides water to all South Goa and even parts of North Goa lies in his constituency, there are some villages in his constituency that do not receive water and have to rely on tankers.
Hanzel Fernandes, representing Benaulim, said water supply problem exists in his constituency too and said for the last 45 days people have been getting erratic water supply. He also urged that the ZP take up the issue of River Sal being polluted by garbage.
The Zilla Panchayat on Wednesday finalised the taluka development plans based on the development plans submitted by the panchayats and will send the same to the district committee to prepare the District plan.
Colva ZP member Vania Baptista asked that the Covid vaccination programme be conducted village wise while Dipak Borkar, who represents Borim, suggested that ZP take up a programme on creating awareness of Covid just like the Swachh Bharat campaign they had undertaken earlier.
Various members raised other issues and the Chief Executive Officer Sanjiv Gadkar had to explain the legal procedures involved and what the members had to do. He lamented that the ZP members only speak about issues but rarely give it in writing and asked them to submit their issues in writing.
