the goan I network
MARGAO
The Margao Municipal Council has finally issued a notice to re-auction the sopo collection, but many a question or two have come to haunt the civic babus as the outgoing sopo contractor owes around Rs 28 lakh to the Municipality while he has furnished a bank guarantee amounting to Rs 16 lakh.
The question that is staring at the Municipal babus is simple “ how would the civic body recover Rs 12 lakh from the sopo contractor as the bank guarantee furnished by him can only fetch the civic body Rs 16 lakh.
Secondly, Municipal officials also owe an answer to Madgavkars how the civic body had allowed the sopo contractor to collect sopo for the last three months when the security deposit cheque had bounced and that the contractor had not paid a single installment till the time the civic body terminated the contract.
While Municipal officials are now bracing up to lodge a criminal case against the contractor under the Negotiable Instruments Act as his security deposit cheque was dishonoured, questions are asked in the corridors of the civic body how the babus will recover the outstanding amount due by the contractor.
What’s interesting to note is that Municipal officials have no explanation to offer on why the contractor was allowed to collect sopo when he had failed to pay three monthly installments and that the bank guarantee furnished by him amounted to Rs 16 lakh only.
When this question was posed to the Municipal Chairperson Babita Prabhudesai, she expressed her helplessness in the matter, saying the matter falls in the domain of the municipal administration. “It’s true that the Municipal administration ought to have exercised extra precaution when it became clear that the contractor’s security deposit cheque had bounded and that he has failed to pay the initial installments,” Babita said. She, however, said that the Municipal administration headed by Chief Officer Siddivinayak Naik should take cognizance of the situation and initiate necessary action.
Sources in the know pointed out that the Municipality would have been on a sound footing if the amount of the bank guarantee had exceeded the amount of the monthly installments taken together. It is learnt that the Municipal officials are now banking on the sopo contractor to bail them out, hoping the contractor would clear the installments and save them from embarrassment.
