The Goa Government has yet not prepared a Citizens Charter for the Municipalities or the Directorate of Municipal Administration or the Department of Urban Development.
We,at South Goa Public Interest Action Group (SGPIAG) a registered NGO based in Margao,Salcete, South Goa District ,with jurisdiction, at present, over the entire South Goa Parliamentary Constituency have made an attempt to present an insight into the functioning of Municipalities/Corporation in Goa. We have also prepared an abridged manual EFFECTIVE WAYS TO RUN THE MUNICIPALITY for Municipal authorities. Those interested may request us for the same. The same will be sent by email immediately free of cost. ******************************************************* Goa Legislative Assembly voted sums not exceeding Rs.4223.51 lacs for Municipal Administration for the current fiscal year 2005-06 in the recently concluded budget session. In Goa there are thirteen Municipal bodies headed by a Chairperson, Vice Chairperson, and other councillors, and one Corporation of City of Panaji 30 seats of corporators headed by a Mayor. The Municipal bodies/Corporation raise their own revenues from the taxes/licences imposed/collected by them as per their byelaws,i.e,House tax infrastructure tax, "sopo" tax, Occupational & Trade licence, bill board tax, Building Construction licence, Occupancy certificates etc and also receive grants from the Goa Government from time to time. The principal officer of the Municipality/Corporation is the Chief officer who belongs to a common cadre (transferable) of the Goa State Civil services Senior officers cadre. The Municipalities /Corporation are governed by the Goa Municipalities Act 1968 or Corporation of City of Panaji Act and rules thereof, the various bye laws passed by the Municipality /Corporation and administrative orders issued by the Directorate of Municipal Administration, which is a supervisory body under the Ministry of Urban Development. The Municipality/Corporation organisational set up consists of A) Administrative Section, Accounts Section Library Section, Registration of Births and Deaths , Markets, headed by an Asst Accounts Officer AAO B) a Technical Section, Sanitory Section , Electrical cell under a Municipal Engineer ME C) Taxation Section under an Accounts Taxation Officer ATO and Recovery Section. The Municipalities are divided into A B C Categories depending on the population. There minimum of ten wards and maximum of twenty wards. The Corporation has 30 wards for corporators. The staff of the Municipality Corporation viz utility services Class C D viz Scavengers Workers Peons Supervisors Drivers Plumbers Electricians Lower Division Clerk Upper Division Clerks Accounts Clerk, Head Clerks, & Superintendents are NON TRANSFERABLE as they do not belong to the Common Cadre category. The Engineers are mainly deputationists from the Public Works Departments PWD Under the Act the Municipalities Corporation are required to look after maintenance of markets, hawking zones, sanitation, cleaning, of municipalities/ Corporation areas, gardens, parks etc siezing stray cattle, dogs, controlling flow of "waste waters" from septic tanks, sewers on to main roads or storm drains collection, clearing, disposal, treatment of solid waste. Issue of hand cart licences etc. The pre-dominant function of the Municipalities/Corporation today is grant of building construction licences and Occupation and Trade licence. The major issues affecting the Municipalities are enumerated below: a) the clerical and below staff of the Municipalities / Corporation do not belong to a common cadre as a result the councillors/corporators become subservient to the whims and fancies of the staff. The councillors/coporators are in office for a period of 5 years while the staff exists until superannuation or termination and therefore can afford to dictate terms to the councillors/corporators. b) the Chief Officers being merely Civil service officers are posted/transferred at the whims and fancies of the Government and hence they do not have time to understand the nitty gritty of the Municipal/Corporation they preside over. Being generalists they are not aware of the nuances of the Municipal administration and hence become subservient to whatever the lower staff put up for their signature. c) the Engineers are mainly deputationists from the PWD and hence such postings are based on political consideration. d) the predominant job of the Municipality/Corporation is the Building activity and therefore prominent builders keep the technical/clerical/menial staff, on their "pay rolls" e) the understaffing of various Municipalities /Corporation is deliberate so that money changes hands for "out of turn clearing " of files licences etc etc; f) the conservancy staff is maintained at a bare minimum while the others are engaged on nominal muster rolls despite the ban on recruitment. These workers are mainly put in by politicians, the councillors deploy the conservancy staff for their own needs. fter years of service with breaks they are regularised on "compassionate grounds" g) the Council meetings are normally held for two hours and important decisions are passed without debate. A few councillors deliberately create chaos and delay the smooth procedings to enable clear the rest. h) the constitution of a State Urban Development Authority SUDA is an unauthorised additional arm of the Government intended to make the Municipalities/Corporation subservient to them as most of the development activities involving huge funds are carried out by these bodies. i) inspections are carried out mainly to extract a pound of flesh. While the complainant or the licencee is required to be present the report of inspection is not made available otherwise or under the Goa Right to Information Act j) unlike the Gram Sabhas the Municipalities do not provide a forum for voters to participate in the Council meetings; To eliminate these ills plaguing the Municipalities?Corporation it is suggested as under a) all staff of Municipalities should be constituted under a common cadre and their services made transferable b) appointment of Chief Officers should be from a special Municipal cadre so that they are trained under the relevant acts that they are to perform under c) Engineers for the Municipalities should be from a special Municipal cadre and no staff placed on deputation. If there are surplus engineers in the PWD divisions the same should be disbanded and the Engineers so declared surplus absobed in the Municipal cadre d) It would be advisable to remove immediately the function of issuing of Building Construction licence and Occupancy Certificate from the Municipalities and instead allow them only to collect House Tax e) All notings on files and Inspection reports should be made public COMPULSORILY and not maintained as a confidential document. The Inspection report copy should also be given to the complainant/licencee immediatly after the inspection f) ward councillors should be made statutorily responsible for the illegalities in the ward g) ward committees should be formed and decision of ward committees should be binding on councillors. We invite all voters of the Municipalites going to the polls or otherwise to elicit their views on the above and write to us. Suggestions/ Complaints will be entertained . As a case study this NGO has taken up several issues with the Margao Municipal Council. Therefore citizens who have encountered difficulties may come forward with their grievances and contact us on our HELPLINE with all documentary evidence placed chronologically in a file, for our examination and necessary action. This service is rendered FREE of cost to all concerned. For SOUTH GOA PUBLIC INTEREST ACTION GROUP Regd No 171/GOA/2000 dt 12.12.2000 sd/- TERENCE MAZARELO PRESIDENT (SGPIAG) 1st Flr Benlix Bldg Opp Fatima Convent Margao Goa India [EMAIL PROTECTED] weblink http://mumbai.sancharnet.in/manojnd FAX +91 832 2712430 HELPLINE (24 hrs) 9822158584 Tel +91 832 2731373 (O) __________________________________________________________ Yahoo! India Matrimony: Find your partner now. Go to http://yahoo.shaadi.com
