Margao: Members of the Raia gram sabha on Sunday passed an inclusive and balanced budget of `6.40 crores for the forthcoming financial year 2023-2024, after discussing it for almost two hours in a continuance of last Sunday’s adjourned gram sabha, and with the voluntary assistance of three villagers who are accountants by profession.
There were lengthy discussions held earlier on the same budget and it was found that the panchayat secretary had failed to present a realistic budget. The villagers who attended the previous gram sabha had pointed out numerous flaws in it and had urged the three gram sabha members who are professional accountants to assist the panchayat, and a resolution was passed to this effect.
Francis Fernandes, a Raia resident who is one of the accountants who assisted the panchayat sarpanch and panchayat secretary in preparing the budget, said that, “We all three (accountants) offered help in the interest of the village. I feel other sarpanches and villagers should also involve their villagers, who are accountants and chartered accountants by profession, in preparing the village’s financial budget. This will be of help in two ways: firstly, being a local, their service can help in preparing a visionary and factual budget that can be placed before the gram sabha for approval in one go, and secondly, their involvement will give a boost to the gram sabhas and also guide the panchayat secretaries.”
“We hope that other panchayats would also follow it,” opined Sanjay Monteiro, another Raia resident who assisted the panchayat. He added, “I showed them how to make the best use of central grants in the next financial year. We corrected the budget copy that was circulated to gram sabha members on March 19. There was a mismatch found in the earlier budget which was presented before the last gram sabha,” said Monteiro.
During the session, villagers also demanded that the panchayat maintain a register of the open places within the panchayat limits before proposing the development of these spaces with additional financial provisions.
A youth also demanded the panchayat to increase funds for maintenance of the village playground from `4 lakhs to `4.5 lakhs. He also demanded that the electricity problems be fixed so that local youths can take advantage of the playground. Anthony Barbosa, another Raia resident, demanded that the developmental works of the wards, along with the budget copies, be placed before the gram sabha.
Sarpanch Judas Quadros gave a patient hearing to all the gram sabha members who spoke on the budget and later passed it in the session. Quadros thanked the three accountants for assisting the panchayat in preparing the budget. Quadros said, “The idea of involving experts from the village is indeed a good idea, which other panchayats can also implement.”