South Goa ZP members want hike in salary

Margao: Days after the state legislative assembly passed a resolution to hike its members’ allowances and pension, the South Goa zilla panchayat (ZP) members also sought a raise in their remuneration.

At a meeting of the South Goa ZP on Monday, the members said that while elected representatives of village panchayats and municipal bodies have been given a hike in their remunerations, and with MLAs now demanding a raise, only ZP members are deprived of the increase in monetary benefits.

Chairperson of the South Goa ZP, Suvarna Tendulkar, said that Navelim MLA Ulhas Tuenkar, who was earlier a member of the South Goa ZP raised the issue in the recently-concluded assembly session. “We moved a congratulatory motion in favour of Tuenkar for raising our issue in the House. He also demanded that ZP members be provided with pension and that at least one personnel be alloted to each member to assist them in their official work,” she said.

The ZP members also demanded that the government provide more junior engineers (JEs) to the South Goa ZP, as they said the current strength of the technical staff was insufficient.