Government has messed up reservation in Bardez: Cong

Censuring the State government for failure to apply its mind on Scheduled Caste reservation in the ensuing panchayat polls, North Goa District Congress president Amarnath Panjikar on Thursday said the Director of Panchayat had either not understood the process or had buckled under political pressure.

| MAY 20, 2017, 07:21 PM IST

Photo Credits: Government has messed up reservation in Bardez: Cong


the goan I network
MAPUSA
  
Countering government’s decision to reserve Ward 1 of Bastora for SC, Panjikar said the credit should have gone to Ward 8 of Aldona constituency, which has maximum SC population.   
“If you wanted to give justice to Scheduled Caste population, you should have reserved Ward 8 in Aldona as SC, as there are maximum SC voters in the ward,” Panjikar said.   
He said there were more than 150 voters belonging to Parwars in Ward 8 in Aldona and therefore qualified for SC reservation.   
“I don’t think the panchayat officials are so dumb that they don’t understand the caste concentration. It is obvious these officials have come under pressure and everyone knows from whom,” he said.
Government has reserved 15 wards for SC in the State, while in Bardez Ward 1 of Bastora was the only ward that has been reserved for SC. There are 33 panchayats in Bardez.   
In the seven-member panchayat of Bastora, two wards have been reserved for OBC, two for ladies and one ward for SC leaving only two wards in general category.
Labeling the government’s reservation policy a sham, Ward 3 panch Rock Moniz said the government was using the reservation policy to actually settle political scores and prop up their party nominees.   
“There is hardly any SC population in Ward 1, yet the government has declared it reserved. It was done basically to silence the incumbent panch member from the ward, who raised issues of illegalities in the panchayat jurisdiction,” said Moniz. 
Share this