MARGAO
Margao Municipal Council’s special meeting called to discuss the controversial Gandhi market shops auction had to be adjourned after the signatories to the notice calling for the meeting played truant on Monday.
The Opposition cried foul over the meeting adjournment saying the ruling group has deliberately stayed away from the meeting, fearing that skeletons would tumble out of the cupboards over the auctioning of the Gandhi market shops.
Call it a deliberate ploy or otherwise, the ruling Congress and Goa Forward-backed councillors were all conspicuous by their absence, even as the Opposition councillors, including the BJP-backed councillors, former Chairperson Ghanashyam Shirodkar and Independent councillor Mahesh Amonkar turned up for the meeting.
None of the ruling councillors, including Chairperson Lyndon Pereira and his deputy Deepali Sawal, were present at the council hall at 11 am, with Chairperson later making his presence felt to adjourn the meeting for want of quorum.
In fact, the Chairperson left his chair no sooner as he adjourned the meeting for want of quorum, even as the Opposition pleaded with him to lend his ears to their grievances on the matter.
What’s significant to note is that around 16 councillors, both ruling and opposition, had signed the notice for the special meeting, out of which the names of two councillors -- Lata Pednekar and Deepak Gadekar -- were found struck off from the list of signatories.
Left with no option, the Opposition councillors including Mahesh Amonkar and Ghanashyam Shirodkar later demanded that the Director of Municipal Administration order an inquiry into the auctioning of the shops.
Amonkar wondered why the ruling group of councillors have run away from a discussion on the shops auctioning if they had nothing to hide on the issue.
“The council meeting hall is like a temple of democracy. People may say so many things on any issue through the media, but they should have come for the meeting and expressed their views on the auction. By staying away, the ruling group has murdered democracy”, he said.
Ghanashyam Shirodkar suspected a conspiracy behind the absence of the ruling councillors for the meeting, saying the ruling group has stayed away from getting exposed on the auction.
“We have now every reason to believe that the ruling councillors have stayed away from the meeting to avoid getting exposed. We had no interest in calling for the special meeting, other than ensuring that the auction goes for a higher amount, which helps to enrich the Municipal coffers”, councillors said, adding that the group would now write to the Director of Municipal Administration to order an inquiry into the entire shop action episode.
