The Margao Municipal Council has chosen to follow this golden rule: Don’t stick your head out. As far as use of CCTVs for regulation of traffic and pay-parking are concerned the MMC has chosen to maintain status quo, which is, ‘don’t do anything’. The CCTV cameras introduced in Margao through the MPLAD scheme are out of order and no one wants to take responsibility for their upkeep. The general rule here is, the agency which benefited most from collection of fines should repair the CCTVs, but in Margao basic principles of good administration are not followed. One is not surprised that the MMC has washed its hands off the matter. It does not make sense for the MMC to foot the bill while the traffic department collects the fines. On the issue of pay-parking, the MMC chairperson said that she would not implement the same until additional parking space is created. This means ‘never’, because there is no space left in Margao for pay-parking or buildings. Some time back it was believed that pay-parking would result in optimum use of space. The Panaji example has shown that this approach does not work and at best pay-parking is a good revenue stream for civic bodies. The MMC chairperson is right in rejecting both proposals because as long as there is no demand from citizens of Margao, there is no reason to be pro-active. A chaotic Margao is better for business, it would seem.
