PANAJI: Even though the government is yet to clear the schedule of elections to 186 village panchayats in the state, the directorate of panchayats has set a target to complete the process of delimitation of the panchayat wards by April 18.
The State Election Commission has proposed May 21 as the date to conduct the panchayats polls in the state, as the five-year term of the 186 panchayats ends in May. The last panchayat poll was held on May 16, 2012.
The process of delimitation of the wards was initiated by the directorate of panchayats in the first week of February. However, following criticism from various quarters, it was, however, kept on hold.
It may be recalled that political parties like Goa Forward and other organisations had raised objection to the process of delimitation of wards in February, as there was no government in place.
Now, with the new government coming into power, the directorate of panchayats has restarted the process of delimitation of wards, sources said, adding that once the report of the delimitation process is complete, the government will finalise the reservation of wards.
Director of Panchayats Sandhya Kamat has directed her official to submit the report of the delimitation process by April 18, in which the official will also identify the settlement of scheduled castes, scheduled tribes besides other backward classes so that wards can be reserved for the communities.
As of now, Goa has 190 panchayats but the number of rural local self bodies will go up to 191, as the government has decided to create a new panchayat of Quelossim, separating it from the Cortalim panchayat. The five-year term of five panchayats will end next year.
