MARGAO
Realization seemed to have finally dawned on the Margao municipal administration that the only way to get the three BS4-compliant trucks registered with the Transport department is to get an order from the Supreme Court.
The municipal administration headed by Chief Officer Manuel Barretto has a task at hand “ how to convince the councillors to adopt a resolution giving the council the nod to knock on the doors of the Supreme Court to obtain an order for the registration of three vehicles.
After the Audit raised a query on the three TATA SFC 709/38 BS IV Chassis lying idle in the municipal garage for the last three years for want of registration with the transport department, the MMC Chief Officer has in a letter to the Assistant Account Officer, attached to the Department of Urban Development (Municipal Administration) stated that the Transport Department has informed the MMC office that the BS IV TATA 709 Chassis can be registered by the order of the Supreme Court.
The Chief Officer further pointed out that the civic body has been told through reliable sources that BS4-compliant vehicles have been registered by the Transport Department in recent months through an order of the Supreme Court.
The Chief Officer has informed the DMA Accounts Officer that these facts will be placed before the council to take a resolution at the meeting so that a proper writ petition can be filed before the Supreme Court.
The three BS4-compliant trucks have been lying in the Municipal garage for the last three years as they cannot be brought on the roads for want of registration. The Transport Department is not registering the vehicles since the Supreme Court-monitored BS6-compliant regime came into force two years ago.
The issue has been hanging fire since the first Council meeting of the present body held in July 2021 with no decision adopted by the elected Council on how to go about the matter to bring the three vehicles on the road.
In January, incumbent Margao Municipal Chairperson Damu Shirodkar in his wisdom told the Administration to write a letter to Transport Minister Mauvin Godinho with a plea to request the transport officials to register the BS4-compliant vehicles. The Chairperson has to date not received any reply from the Transport Minister, as a result of which the three trucks are still lying idle in the municipal garage.
