CANACONA
The incident had led to verbal clashes between Palolem councillor Dayanand Pagi and NGO Goenkar over the past few days.
Putting forth its version of events through a message on WhatsApp, Goenkar stated that it had donated 35 dustbins which were placed in and around Palolem.
“The sponsor’s logo had been affixed on the dustbins. But hours later, we noticed that the logos were removed from these dustbins. Enquiries revealed that a councillor got the municipal staff to remove the sponsor’s logos on grounds that the municipal council was losing revenue as the bins were installed without permission,” stated the NGO.
“It is true that Canacona Municipal Council (CMC) did not get revenue for the placement of dust bins, but then, the CMC had saved at least Rs 70,000 since the bins were donated as part of an initiative to keep Palolem beach clean,” Goenkar added.
Accusing Palolem councillor Dayanand Pagi for the removal of the sponsor’s logs on dustbins, Goenkar decided to get even when Pagi decided to celebrate his birthday in grand style at Palolem beach.
“On May 6 at about 6.30 pm, we received information that a big stage was erected at Palolem beach and we found out that the stage was for the birthday celebrations of Pagi. Enquiries with local authorities revealed that no permission had been obtained to erect the stage at a public place. We then insisted that if there was no permission for the event, it should not happen, since it too amounted to a loss of revenue for the CMC and the tourism department, besides inconvenience to the public,” claimed Goenkar.
Members from Goenkar then confronted Pagi over permissions for his birthday bash at Palolem beach and a police team defused the situation from getting out of control.
Pagi preferred to cancel a drama at the beach, shortly before the programme could begin. As a result, hundreds of invitees, including former minister Ramesh Tawadkar, had to leave the venue. Tawadkar and some councillors then joined Pagi at an undisclosed private establishment.
Hitting out at Goenkar for playing politics, Pagi told The Goan that he had permissions from the deputy collector and had also paid fees to the tourism department to hold the programme as part of his birthday celebrations at Palolem Beach.
“Being a Saturday, I did not have the permissions in my possession, but as the NGO began to threaten artistes who had come to perform the drama, I preferred to cancel the performance to avoid any scene at the beach,” Pagi said.
Commenting on the dustbins issue, Pagi clarified that he had only objected to the placements of bins without CMC’s knowledge and the manner in which sponsor logos were affixed to these bins. “The action was taken by the chief officer as he deemed fit,” said Pagi.
