the goan I network
MARGAO
Drama unfolded at the Margao Municipal Council’s meeting on Thursday over the installation of the statue of Father of Opinion Poll, Dr Jack de Sequeira with as many as 13 out of the 25 councillors backed by the BJP and Leader of the Opposition, Digambar Kamat staging a walk out after accusing Goa Forward-backed Chairperson Babita Prabhudesai for manipulating the minutes of the meeting on the statue.
While the 11 Goa Forward councillors, including Chairperson Babita and Vice-Chairperson Tito Cardozo stayed put at the meeting hall and transacted the business listed on the agenda, the 13 BJP-backed and Digambar Kamat-backed councillors boycotted the meeting and later squatted outside the Chief Officer’s chamber, shouting slogans against the ruling Council.
Both the BJP-backed councillor Rupesh Mahatme and Digambar-backed councillor Doris Texeira later clarified to the media that they are not opposed to the installation of Dr Jack de Sequeira’s statue at the traffic island near the Ravindra Bhavan, Margao, but have expressed their reservations over the manner in which the minutes of the meeting were recorded by the chairperson.
Trouble started from the word go when the chairperson began to read the minutes of the previous meeting when the BJP and Digambar-backed councillors were on their feet, claiming that the minutes pertaining to Dr Sequeira’s statue was wrongly recorded. Heated arguments ensued between the BJP and Digambar-backed City Fathers on one side and Goa Forward-led councillors on the other, with the later accusing the former for trying to sabotage Dr Jack de Sequeira’s statue. The 13 councillors belonging to the BJP and Digambar-backed councillors later staged a walk out after Chairperson Babita and the Goa Forward councillors stood firm in their stand that the Council had indeed taken a resolution to install Dr Sequeira’s statue by calling for the Expression of Interest.
Justifying their decision to boycott the meeting, both Rupesh Mahatme and Doris Texeira pointed out that though the meeting had adopted a resolution to install Dr Sequeira’s statue at the traffic island, they said the minutes of the previous meeting have been wrongly recorded by stating the consultant will initiate the process and invite Expression of Interest to execute the project. “We want to make clear that installation of statues is now guided by the Supreme Court guidelines. There’s now a procedure to be followed by the authorities before installing any statue on the roads,” Rupesh said, demanding to know how the Council can go ahead with the Expression of Interest without complying with the procedure.
Doris and councillors Arthur D’Silva, Ketan Kurtarkar and others claimed that minutes of the meetings have been recorded wrongly in the books by the ruling body, while suspecting foul play.
The 13 councillors later called on the Chief Officer and submitted a memorandum, saying they have boycotted Thursday’s meeting due to the “unethical” behaviour of the ruling councillors. They have urged the Chief Officer not to consider any decisions taken at Thursday’s meeting.
They also handed out another petition to the Chief Officer with a plea that the minutes of the meeting held on July 30, 2019 should not be confirmed.
The Chief Officer clarified that any Council meeting can take place with one third of the total members, adding that the meeting was conducted by Babita Prabhudesai with more than one third members.
He, however, said that he would seek legal opinion on the claims made by the 13 councillors that the minutes of the previous meeting was wrongly recorded.
