the goan I network
MARGAO
Apparently bowing to the sentiments of citizens and tax payers, opposing any study tour with just few months to go for the current municipal tenure to end, majority of the Margao Municipal councillors, around 19 to be precise, have decided not to go on the controversial study tour to Mount Abu, Rajasthan.
As things stand today, only six councillors, four owing allegiance to the Congress and two to the BJP, have confirmed their participation for the two-day tour. Chief Officer Ajit Panchwadkar and a Municipal engineer will accompany the City Fathers for the camp.
Chairperson Pooja Naik and his deputy Tito Cardozo and the remaining 11-member group of councillors belonging to the Goa Forward party have stayed away from the controversial tour. Around 3-4 municipal engineers, who were earlier part of the tour, have been apparently dropped to keep public resentment at bay.
A couple of councillors told the media that it’s not fair to proceed on the tour on January 21 when the final hearing of the Sonsodo waste tangle is expected to come up for final hearing before the South Goa district court on that day. “Just imagine a situation if the district court passes an order for immediate compliance and there’s no senior officer around to take a call,” the councillor remarked.
Till late on Friday, the tour file was in the chamber of Chief Officer Panchwadkar, with sources in the civic body saying that Panchwadkar is expected to check up with the travel agency the flights available for Ahmedabad from Goa on June 21.
Meanwhile, former MMC chairperson Savio Coutinho has once again warned that the citizens and the tax payers will go ahead with the planned dharna in front of the Margao municipal building if the six councillors along with the Chief Officer and a municipal engineer go ahead with the Mount Abu tour.
“We have received support for the planned agitation in protest against the Mount Abu tour being undertaken by the group of councillors. We will seek the names of the list of councillors who plan to go on the tour so that these names are kept in public domain for the people to take the right decision,” he said.
