MARGAO
The Shadow Council for Margao has dared Chief Minister Pramod Sawant to act on the corruption in the waste management instead of only making statements of corruption.
Reacting to the Chief Minister’s statement charging the local body’s with corruption in waste management, the Shadow Council for Margao questioned the CM over the exact message he intends to convey through his statement.
Briefing the press along with Arch Carlos Gracias, Maria do Carmo, Mahesh Naik, Domnic Coutinho and Zarina Cunha, SCM convenor Savio Coutinho highlighted and recalled a host of scams in waste management in Margao.
While expressing happiness that he has sought to acknowledge the corruption in the waste management, Coutinho questioned the CM over the action he intended to take against the corruption he has come across.
SCM stated that the Chief Minister heads both, the Goa Waste Management Corporation as well as the Vigilance Department, and even after submitting several complaints to both the government agencies, no action has been initiated even by the Vigilance Department.
“We have complained against the waste collection contractor Bapu Environmental Social Service Organisation for having been awarded the contract without following any codal formalities, and the Margao Municipal Council has been paying the agency Rs 15 lakh per month since November 2019. Crores of rupees have already been paid to the agency, but for obvious reasons no authority including the Vigilance Department, headed by the CM preferred to initiate action,” Coutinho charged.
He added: We have given written complaints to every authority be it the CM, the Urban Development Minister, the Chief Secretary, the Vigilance Secretary, the Urban Development Secretary and the Director for Municipal Administration and Director of Vigilance Department, but the only communication we receive from them is the copy of the forwarding letters.”
SCM also highlighted the inaction from the government against the frauds in the purchase of 3 BS4 engine trucks and the 2 bio rickshaws, on which the public exchequer has lost over Rs 35 lakh.
The Shadow Council also questioned the Chief Minister over the action he has taken on the Sonsodo legacy waste remediation contractor who has done haphazard screening work, and dumped mixed garbage near the District Court in Margao, by tagging the waste as inert and compost. “The work of remediation is carried out through the Goa Waste Management Corporation of which the Chief Minister himself is the chairman, but somehow he is silent here as well, as mercury laden waste, with 6 times higher levels is dumped, destroying the environment and ecology,” he added.
Mahesh Naik stated that the corruption is seen at panchayat level too with purchase of waste treatment machines which are unused and lying idle.
