MARGAO: The panchayat block of Salcete, having thirty village panchayats under it, has a sanctioned strength of two extension officers (EOPs), but in reality there is none to deal with the work.
Monohar Parwar, the EOP working for the block, was transferred by the government in September to the Mapusa block and no appointment has been made in his place.
The Directorate of Panchayats has failed to fill up the post of another EOP since the bifurcation of the block in 2007.
The Salcete block was divided into two, and since then the Directorate of Panchayats had sanctioned two EOPs – one each for fifteen panchayats.
Presently, the 30 panchayats of Salcete are functioning without an EOP and this has caused a lot of inconvenience to the panchayat members and the sarpanchas, who visit the block development offices (BDO) for their panchayat-related works and complains of illegalities.
EOP’s presence is also equally important for carrying out the inspection of illegal constructions and holding elections for the village panchayat members especially when a motion of no confidence is introduced.
“Two officials were given promotions and appointed as EOP, but they refused to accept the promotions. The post also cannot be directly filled in. Nevertheless, we are trying to resolve the issue,’’ stated the director of panchayats G Pilernekar.
“The state governments – be it BJP or the Congress never gave importance to the grass-root level bodies, therefore the Goa Panchayati Raj Act is a farce, or else why cannot the government give us a full-time panchayat secretary as mandated by the act?” questioned the Rachol sarpanch Joseph Vaz. He had to frequently visit the BDO office for clearing of a file pertaining to the village developmental works since the village has been adopted under the Sansad scheme.
Interestingly, most of the panchayat members were upset with the panchayat ministry as they were given step-motherly treatment. “We expect pending projects to be cleared before the end of the budgetary year, but the code of conduct came in our way. The delay in getting government funds had further crippled the panchayats,” said another panch member.