Parliamentary team visits Daman

Silvassa, Jan 23 (UNI) A three-member parliamentary standing committee is currently on a tour of the Union Territories (UT) of Daman, Dadra&Nagar-Haveli and Silvassa today, to study the feasibility of having an independent Assembly and enhancing the power of local district panchayats and nagarpalikas here.

The high-powered committee is headed by senior BJP leader Sushma Swaraj. It is directly under the jurisdiction of the Union Home Ministry and it's other two members are Prashanto Chatterjee and Tapir Gao.

''The main drawback is that these UTs have no Vidhan Sabha. Though some incremental powers have been bestowed upon panchayats and nagarpalikas, yet for any developmental activity funds have to be sought from the administrator, which consequently results in delays.

Since the last two years Silvassa is yet to receive the promised Rs 1.8 crores per annum, due to them as part of the 'Sampoorna Grameen Rozgar Yojana' (SGRY) scheme, hampering development works here,'' Ms Swaraj regretted.

The panel which met public representatives, industrialists, representatives of trade bodies and fishermen in Daman to get first hand information regarding the problems in these territories.

The interactions revealed pollution was one of the main issues.

Farmers and fishermen alleged that effluents from Vapi was being dumped in the Daman Ganga river which flows from Silvassa to Vapi and then to Daman. The effluent treatment plant in Vapi's industries was of poor capacity and consequently the wastes from the highly industrialised zone were going untreated into the river.

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