MARGAO
Margao Municipal Council administration was on Tuesday stumped by the City Fathers over the haste by which the municipal body signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to hand over a traffic island for beautification and maintenance to a private agency sans council resolution and approval.
As the special meeting held on Tuesday generated much heat over the MoU, even Chairperson Lyndon Pereira joined his colleague councillors to say that no resolution was passed by the council to sign the MoU and hand over the traffic island to the private party. Categorically saying the MoU was signed by the council with the party sans his approval, the Chairperson drew the attention of the City Fathers that he had indeed put up a note to the Chief Officer to revoke the MoU since it was signed without the council nod.
The incident brought to light the bitter reality that while the common man is made to wait for days, if not months, to get their work done, the council showed undue haste in clearing the file and signing the MoU and passing an order to the party to make the payment, all within one day and within a matter of few hours.
In fact, councillor Damu Shirodkar pointed out that while the council had received the application from the party Seby D’Mello on October 27, the MoU was signed on the next day on October 28 when the council was scheduled to discuss and deliberate on the file. That’s not all. Chief Officer Agnelo Fernandes issued a letter to Seby on the same day to make the payment within seven days.
The meeting witnessed an uproar as the councillors led by Damu Shirodkar, Shagun Naik and others directed their ire at the Municipal Chairperson, saying the MoU was inked with the knowledge of the Chairperson. A visibly agitated Lyndon asserted that he is not a party to the signing of the MoU and asked the agitated councillors to direct their questions to Chief Officer Agnelo Fernandes.
This did not calm down frayed tempers. In fact, the councillors demanded that the Chairperson direct the Chief Officer to revoke the MoU with immediate effect and protect the interest of the council.
The issue was raised by councillor Damu Shirodkar at the special meeting even though the issue was listed on the agenda without the signatures of one-third of the members. Councillor Mahesh Amonkar sought to object to the issue being raised at the special meeting when the mandatory one-third members’ nod was not obtained by the council. Damu and others, however, went ahead and raised the issue saying it is of utmost public importance, leaving the Chairperson to take a call.
He claimed that while the civic body had inked the MoU with the party, MMC workers were being engaged to clean up the traffic island for reasons best known to the civic body.
Both Damu and Shagun quizzed the Chief Officer over his decision saying there are against any particular party, but the manner in which the MoU was signed by throwing all norms to the winds.
The duo demanded to know the haste by which the MoU was inked when the resolution, assuming it was adopted at the October 28 meeting, was not confirmed at the next meeting.
CO says adding resolutions to minutes of meet without discussion a trend
MARGAO
Cornered over the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) inked by the council with a party sans Council’s nod, Margao Municipal Chief Officer Agnelo Fernandes stirred a hornet’s nest by saying that it has become a trend to add resolutions in the minutes of council meetings without the same being discussed and delivered by the City Fathers.
In a damning revelation, the Chief Officer said that such a trend has taken precedence in all the municipal councils when resolutions are added to the minutes of the meetings without the same being discussed at council meetings.
“At least in the instant case, there is a file stating that the matter of handing over the traffic island to the private party for beautification be placed before the council meeting. In many other cases, even the proposal is not brought before the council meetings, but the decision is added to the minutes of the meetings even after a month but before the confirmation of the minutes,” he said.
The Chief Officer added: “I can say that resolutions are being added to the minutes even without being discussed at the meeting. In the past, islands were handed over to organizations and parties without tender and MoU. I can show you from the file that traffic islands were just handed over to the party sans MOUs and resolutions. At least, the file concerning this traffic island was signed and placed before the council for a resolution”.
To a question, the Chief Officer said he would revoke the MoU concerned the traffic island in the event the Council resolves to do so.
Incidentally, the Chief Officer and the Chairperson differed on the issue of the Council adopting a resolution on the MoU. While the Chairperson asserted that no resolution was passed by the council to hand over the island to the concerned party, the Chief Officer said the resolution was indeed adopted by the Council at the October 28 meeting.
“The Chairperson may say so many things. I do not want to join issue with the Municipal Chairperson on this issue”, Chief Officer Agnelo added.
