Mapusa Municipal Council Chairperson Shubanghi Vaigankar
MAPUSA
After coming under criticism for badly handling garbage management in the last three months, Mapusa Municipal Council Chairperson Shubanghi Vaigankar said the government should avoid taking civic staff for election-related work as public-oriented works get hampered due to shortage of staff.
Vaigankar also said the municipal council has become people’s favourite punching bag even if it has nothing to do with the problem at hand.
“The government should come out with some decision so that the staff of municipal councils is kept away from election-related work as it impacts day to day functioning of the civic body. The civic body provides essential services to the public and when there is shortage of staff it creates multiple problems,” Vaigankar said.
In the last three months, garbage collection went for a toss in Mapusa town with waste getting piled up in open spaces for days together.
Door-to-door waste collection was also not happening properly with several citizens complaining against the inadequate service.
The chairperson admitted that garbage collection was affected but pushed the blame on the scarcity of staff, which was on election duty.
At least 48 staff of the council were requisitioned for election-related work in the recently concluded assembly polls.
“Most of our supervisors who monitor field work had to be sent for election work. Due to lack of staff, our garbage collection exercise went haywire. There were several complaints of waste not being picked up from public spots. We were helpless,” Vaigankar rued.
The assembly elections are done and dusted but next panchayat elections are knocking on the door. Panchayat elections in the State are due in May-June.
“Most of the staff have joined back after the assembly elections ended but with the panchayat elections to follow, we don’t know if our staff will be requisitioned again. With monsoon fast approaching we are hoping against hope that our staff will be spared,” she said.
The chairperson further rued the fact that people blamed the municipal council for everything that went wrong in the municipality.
“There are some major district roads (MDR) which pass through the municipal area. Although the PWD is responsible for the upkeep of these roads, people blame us for the bad condition of these roads,” she explained.
