the goan I network
VASCO
Mormugao Municipal Council (MMC) Chairperson Kritesh Gaonkar and his predecessor, Deepak Naik, continued to trade barbs over the special council had turned stormy on Friday.
Heated arguments had broken out over confirmation of minutes of the previous council meeting and the list of works earlier sent for approval to DMA by Naik.
While Naik has threatened to take legal action on minutes of the previous meeting that were confirmed at the special Council meeting despite 11 Councillors objecting to the move, Gaonkar has alleged that Naik and the opposition councillors wanted to delay development projects.
Claiming that the minutes of the previous meeting were not attached with the agenda at the present meeting, Naik said it was circulated just before the meeting.
“We are being forced to confirm the minutes in 15 minutes and they have confirmed the minutes using majority power in absolute hurry. As per the act, the minutes should be sent at least three days in advance.”
Naik claimed that since 11 of the 22 councillors had objected to the minutes, it could not have been passed.
“According to the minutes, works of Rs 5 crore from all wards sent to the DMA for approval after passing a valid resolution while I was chairperson were sent back to the council and a new list is being sent.”
“It is the duty of the DMA to approve the works sent to them after approvals. On what grounds were the works rejected? Gaonkar says he will send a fresh list but our demand is that previous list of works should be taken up first.”
Accusing Gaonkar and the ruling councillors of “dadagiri”, Naik said they had never objected to to any development nor had they spoken against the present council.
“But such behaviour and unconstitutional tactics cannot be tolerated and they have gone out of hand. We will take legal action against the previous list being sent back and minutes of the previous minutes being confirmed.
Responding to Naik’s accusations, Gaonkar alleged that in the last three years, Naik had undertaken development only in his ward without thinking of other wards.
“Just before he stepped down, he forwarded other works of Rs 5 crore to the DMA for approvals which were not in the correct manner. The DMA sent back the list and directed me to correct the list and send it again, with priority works list from all councillors across all wards after inspection from MMC engineers,” said Gaonkar.
“I have now sent a fresh list but I have ensured that works in all wards are listed in the new list sent for approval,”added Gaonkar.
Commenting on the debate over confirmation of minutes of the previous council meeting, Gaonkar said, “We were also 11 members and there was a tie. As a former chairperson, Naik should know that in a tie, the chairperson can caste an extra vote so the final tally would be 12-11 and hence, all these minutes and approvals stand
valid,” Gaonkar added.
