Faleiro8217;s three-tier panchayat meetws with opposition

PANAJI, JULY 2: A proposal to constitute panchayats at the taluka level in addition to the village and district levels by the newly-elect...

PANAJI, JULY 2: A proposal to constitute panchayats at the taluka level in addition to the village and district levels by the newly-elected Congress Government in the State has kicked up a row here. Even as fellow Congressmen in Goa laud Chief Minister Luizinho Faleiro for quot;decentralising financial and administrative powers to the grassrootsquot;, the Bharatiya Janata Party BJP and the general public are unhappy with the Government on the issue.

The amendment to the Goa Panchayati Raj Act 1994 proposed by Faleiro in the forthcoming Assembly session to facilitate this change is expected to go through as the Congress enjoys an absolute majority in the House of 40 MLAs. As a consequence, the State populace will have 188 more representatives in the new taluka panchayats.

The existing village panchayats and municipal councils in the tiny State House has nearly 1,600 representatives. Another forty sit in the Legislative Assembly as MLAs and an equal number will be elected to the zilla panchayats. Goa sends twomembers to the Lok Sabha and a lone MP to the Rajya Sabha. With a population of around 15 lakh this translates to one representative for less than 700 persons 8211; a fact editorial writers in the State have been harping over.

Leader of the Opposition Manohar Parrikar pointed out that the creation of panchayats at the taluka level will call for immediate creation of infrastructure like buildings and employees. quot;But, the State Government has no money for all this,quot; he said.

Parrikar also said that since Goa is a small State, there was no need for another tier of local self-government. quot;The zilla parishad can well do the work of a taluka panchayat, he feels. Expectedly, the BJP has decided to oppose the amendment to the Goa Panchayati Raj Act within and outside the Legislative Assembly.

Even a representative body of the panchayats like the All Goa Panchayat Parishad have come out against the proposed three-tier panchayat system. The Government was promoting the three-tier panchayat system, in order not tofully constitute the zilla parishads, AGGP president Vinayak Naik said in a statement. He felt that two-tier or three-tier panchayats would only curb the stranglehold of MLAs over the local self-government bodies who would no longer be approached by grassroot level representatives for development activities.

But Faleiro is undaunted. quot;The taluka panchayats will be responsible for inter-village roads, irrigation and water supply,quot; he said at a meeting of sarpanches on Sunday. He further added that the State Government is considering handing over essential services like power and water supply, road construction and school administration to the panchayats. quot;When power rests with a handful of people, it leads to corruption,quot; he explained.

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The Chief Minister also promised to institute vigilance committees to oversee the utilisation of funds by the local self-government bodies. However, Faleiro8217;s decision to hold simultaneous elections to the taluka panchayats and the zilla parishad is what has really got theOpposition8217;s goat. quot;The Chief Minister will make use of the debate over the institution of taluka panchayats and delay elections to the zilla parishads,quot; Parrikar said. The long overdue ZP polls could not be held last summer on account of the Assembly elections. It is now scheduled for October after the Lok Sabha polls.