Economic revival plan: Civic bodies to be adopted

PANAJI: Chief minister Pramod Sawant on Saturday said policymakers will adopt all of Goa’s 191 villages panchayats and 14 municipalities, including the Corporation of the City of Panaji (CCP), by October 2 to make them self-sufficient with an economic revival plan.
The directorate of higher education (DHE) and Goa Institute of Public Administration and Rural Development (GIPARD) have submitted a report on steps to take to make the civic bodies self-sufficient. The study was carried out under the state executive committee and Disaster Management Act.
Sawant said that the report has looked at cleanliness and beautification, maintaining of cultural heritage, developmental and ecological balance, civic and academic education to all, employment, entrepreneurship and opportunity, health living, time-bound service, people partnership, good governance, improving the happiness portion self-reliance in village panchayats and municipalities “Policymakers (colleges and various departments) will visit these villages and adopt them by October 2. Based on the potential of the village, they will be made self-sufficient,” he said.
Sawant congratulated DHE and GIPARD for the report.
“This report will give directions on how Goa will move ahead in the coming days. It will help the state to make villages and municipalities self-sufficient on the lines of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Atmanirbhar Bharat,” he said.
A senior officer said that during the course of interaction with teachers, villagers sought packages for revival of their businesses in the form of tax concessions and a loan waiver scheme.
DHE and GIPARD had been tasked with surveying all civic bodies, so that a detailed economic revival plan could be drawn up for the state.
The idea was to analyse the potential for revival of sectors related to agriculture, animal husbandry, fishing, horticulture, tourism, MSME, traditional means of livelihood and the employment potential in each individual village.