Goemkarponn desk
PORVORIM: Chief Minister Pramod Sawant today informed the house that the OBC commission has studied the data from the Social Welfare and Panchayat department before finalizing the reservation of wards for panchayats.
“OBC commission has studied data from Social Welfare and Panchayat Departments before finalizing the reservation of wards for panchayats,” said CM Sawant.
He further said that State Election Commission (SEC) has submitted reservations after proper study and triple test as mandated by the Supreme Court of India.
“Government does not declare elections, and it is done by SEC; Government was clear on holding Panchayat polls,” he added.
Sawant said that he had requested the High Court of Bombay at Goa to grant the state government 30 extra days due to rains.
“Voting could be impacted for the panchayat polls due to heavy rainfall in the state,” he added.
The opposition cornered the ruling and raised suspicion about the intention of the state government to hold the panchayat elections.
“The OBC reservations done are not correct as the population is completely different of what is shown in OBC reservations,’ said St Cruz MLA Rudolf Fernandes
Calangute MLA Michael Lobo took on the government, stating that there was no survey done before submitting the OBC reservations.
“The panchayat staff and clerks were asked to submit the data from their ward arbitrarily
AAP MLA Capt Venzy Viegas said that where there is an OBC population in a ward, there is no reservation.
Mormugao MLA Sankalp Amonkar charged the Chief Minister of him, accusing the Congress of playing politics in OBC reservations.
Last week, the State government notified 19 communities as Backward Classes who have now been granted reservations for the panchayat polls. Earlier, on July 6, the government had submitted the report of the Goa State Commission for Backward Classes, with reservation of wards for OBCs.
The government had requested the Commission to consider the report and reserve the wards for OBCs, without which it would cause great injustice to these communities as they would be deprived form representation in local bodies.
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