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Panchayat secretaries made to play musical chairs at Raia
25 panchayat secretaries transferred in 10 years; one every 6 months
Team Herald
MARGAO: In the last decade the Raia village panchayat has witnessed the transfers of nearly 25 panchayat secretaries, hampering the development and day-to-day administrative works at grass root level.
Amrit Sakhalkar has been recently posted as the panchayat secretary at the panchayat, while Nilesh Shirodkar has been relieved from the additional duties, that too within six days.
The 25 panchayat secretaries who have been transferred in the last decade include those who served the panchayat as an additional charge.
Sources revealed that Sanjiv Naik held on to the panchayat secretary’s post for a maximum two-and-half years while all others were transferred within a year.
Since 2013, Raia villagers have witnessed 26 panchayat secretaries in service which caused hurdles with regards to development works, besides day-to-day administrative functioning.
Frustrated over these transfers, the villagers and panch members have urged the government to post panchayat secretaries for a maximum period at the panchayat.
Martin Rodrigues, a villager and Chairman of Village Development Committee, told O Heraldo that frequent transfers of panchayat secretaries have created lots of problems at the panchayat level regarding works related to the village and the villagers.
“Transfers of panchayat secretaries have definitely affected the functioning of Raia panchayat, which the government needs to look into seriously,” he said.
Mario D’Souza, a panch member, said that at the end people are targeting the elected members for the works that are pending due to transfers of the panchayat secretaries.
“What has been noticed in recent years is that several works are delayed at the panchayat level due to repeated transfers of the panchayat secretary as he is being a signing authority. It has been witnessed that the new panchayat secretaries after taking the charge take a lot of time to get well-versed with the works and the issues,” he said.
He informed that many times important documents pertaining to issuing certificates and licences are kept pending due to transfers of the panchayat secretaries, resulting in inconvenience to the villagers.
Luis Caitan Quadros, former sarpanch opined that a new panchayat secretary definitely takes a time to get adjusted and this hampers of the works at the panchayat level.