the goan I network
CANACONA
In an unprecedented development, the NGO ‘Goenkar’ dumped 20 bags of garbage collected in a drive on Tuesday outside the Canacona Municipal Council (CMC) chief officer’s cabin, after accusing him of refusing to provide a municipal vehicle to dispose off the collected garbage.
The CMC reacted by filing a police complaint against some ‘Goenkar’ members for bringing and dumping the garbage bags in the municipal building and blocking both doors of chief officer’s cabin on Tuesday evening.
According to ‘Goenkar’ member Sandesh Telekar, the CMC’s failure to clear the garbage in different parts of the municipality had prompted them to undertake the garbage collection drive over 10 days.
“We have been lifting the day’s collection by hiring vehicles on our own, to shift the garbage collected to the Garbage Treatment Plant at Dumane all these days.”
“But when we collected about 20 bags full of garbage from in and around the municipal vegetable market on Tuesday, we had sought a municipal vehicle to shift the garbage to the GTP. To our shock, CMC Chief Officer Raju R Dessai not only refused to provide the municipal vehicle, but insulted us by questioning the ‘Goenkar’ team for shifting garbage to the GTP at Dumane without obtaining their permission,” said Telekar.
Added ‘Goenkar’ President Jack Fernandes: “Forgetting its task to maintain cleanliness, the CMC should have been grateful to an NGO is doing this work for them. Instead, the CMC preferred to insult us by taking us for granted.”
“Since there was no other option to keep the collected garbage bags away from stray animals, we decided to shift the same to the municipal building and preferred to keep them safe outside the chief officer’s cabin.”
With the 20 garbage-filled bags blocking access to chief officer’s cabin, confusion
prevailed among the municipal staff.
Acting reportedly on instructions from the chief officer, a CMC administrative officer then filed a police complaint against two members of ‘Goenkar’.
A police team led by PSI Prashal Dessai later conducted a panchanama of the garbage bags blocking both access points to the chief officer’s cabin.
As part of their investigation, the police were seen recording statements of the municipal staff in the connection.
