7 Ways Goa Panchayats Extort Money & Harass Citizens….and 7 Effective Ways to Stand up Against Them (and still get your work done)

Sarpanch’s lead Massive Extortion Racket in Village Panchayats of Goa.

By
Gaurav Bakshi
Actor & Founder HelpdesQ.in
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(The intent of this blog is to create awareness of Citizens Rights, & Provide Citizens Solutions thereby creating a more just system & to have a public discourse on corruption. The author encourages all citizens to highlight & publicly track issues to ensure the Elected Representatives and Government Servants are held accountable and do not indulge in mis-governance & abuse of power.

Goa based legal-tech Startup HelpdesQ.in has helped save hundreds of crores in bribes for customers, and is possibly the only entity in India to successfully offer & deliver 100% corruption free services for everything government. This is something that most believe doesn’t exist and often can’t even imagine vaguely possible.)

In Village Panchayats, ward members, in their capacity as the elected public servants are to be the guardians of the affairs at the Village Level. They are to provide a platform for effective & transparent governance, expression of peoples’ voices, addressing of concerns, decision making based on majority etc. Instead, the elected ward members rampantly indulge in blatant corruption at the cost of unity & integrity of the state of Goa.

Due to this decades long extortion racket, powers of Panchayats have been curtailed substantially through amendments to the Panchayat Raj Act. (Read TOI Article)

Below are 7 Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) of the Corrupt at the Panchayat Level:

1. Delay and frustrate the applicant…and force them to give in to giving bribes
   1. Repeatedly call applicants to the Panchayat office for no reason (when almost everything can be done virtually in today’s age)
   2. Block applicants on WhatsApp and mobile so they cannot reach anyone.
   3. In other cases, inform all Panchayat members to stop entertaining calls or in person visits by applicants.
   4. Ask “Who are you” incase you haven’t shown them a POA. However, if you keep money on the table (upon their demands) without any POA/Authority Letter, they’ll give you a warm hug and have loving conversations for hours.
2. Issue Illegal Notices & Abuse the Law
   1. Deliberately & maliciously sending notices with intent to harass applicants and then demand bribes.
   2. Such notices are typically bad in law and can be easily challenged.
3. Conduct illegally site inspections, threaten and extract money
   1. A site inspection without issuing a notice is illegal.
   2. This is a modus operandi to not have any record of this inspection.
   3. At the inspection, the Sarpanch or Ward Member or 3rd Party will point out various non-existing issues on your site, create fear and then demand money with threats to delay approvals or shut down operations.
4. Indulge in Direct Blatant Extortion
   1. Sarpanch & Ward member directly & shamelessly demand money and issue threats.
   2. Sarpanch claims he is King of the Panchayat and nothing can be done without keeping him happy.
   3. Ward member claims he is King of the Ward and nothing can be done without keeping him happy.
   4. Sarpanch & Ward members send messages via third parties to make cash bribe payments else licenses will not be issued.
5. Syphon off Public Funds allotted to Panchayats
   1. Syphoning of funds takes places almost in all expenditures of the Panchayat, through commissions and fake / inflated bills.
   2. Eg: Garbage Management Funds misused, while Garbage piles up. Read this TOI Article to see exactly how.
6. Grants Misused
   1. Grants & schemes approved for the underprivileged are stolen from the poor, literally.
7. Demand bribes to issue Licences
   1. From Corlim Panchayat to Aldona Panchayat, lakhs are demanded for issuing Construction Licences, Occupancy Certificates & other licences.
   2. Read the TOI Article to see exactly how.

And here are 7 ways for Citizens to Stand Up* Against the Corrupt:

(*Note: Voice record all calls and meetings. Take photos & videos of any inspections.)

1. File an RTI: This is an effective way to force an official to act on your application.
2. File Complaints: To Taluka Block Development Officer (BDO), Vigilance & Police.
3. Legal recourse: By approaching the Directorate of Panchayats & High Court.
4. Approach PMO: Write to PMO (yes, it works)
5. Use Social Media: Air your grievance on social media & tag CM, ministers, media.
6. Campaign: Start a public campaign using various online campaign platforms.
7. Approach Media: Hold a press conference and invite media.

What can the Government do to Solve the malaise? It’s very simple

1. Digitization of citizen services
2. Ensuring Legally Binding Time Bound Delivery of Citizen services

Why is it not done?

1. The corrupt naturally oppose any better delivery systems and want to keep their illegal money flows going for as long as they can

Amendments to the Panchayat Raj Act Pending

To be fair, the Goa State Government has brought amendments to the Panchayat Raj Act to take away powers of the Panchayats to harass and delay basic services. These amendments are pending the Governors accent. Read TOI Article on the amendment.

Have you faced corruption? Write to us on hello@helpdesq.in and share your experience.

If you are facing any of the above situations, and are looking for professional help to get your work done without corruption, email hello@helpdesq.in or visit www.helpdesq.in.

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