the goan I network
MAPUSA
With most of the Mapusa civic workforce on leave due to the ongoing Ganesh festival, door-to-door garbage collection in the city has gone haywire.
The staff could not cope up with the demand of the 20 wards as the few Class D workers on the field failed to pick up waste in many wards in the Mapusa Municipal Council.
Several residents in the city have complained that the civic staff has failed to collect waste for more than a week now.
Ward councillors had to face the music as locals have started blaming them for failure to get their act together.
On normal days there are around 56 workers who service the 20 wards in the door-to-door garbage collection.
This number has come down to just 20 with most of the workers on leave for the festival.
“How can the civic body grant leave to most of the staff in one go? When the Prime Minister of the country and the government of the day speak about maximum governance and service to the people here it appears the council has different set of priorities,” said Mahesh Rane, a resident of Khorlim.
Similarly, with over 80 percent of the administrative staff on leave the Mapusa civic office was virtually empty on Friday.
“There is virtually no administration in the Mapusa municipality for the last three days after the two-day official holidays declared by the government. When government is talking about Swachh Bharat we can see waste everywhere in the city,” said Jawaharlal Shetye of Mapusa.
A councillor informed that he had to hire the services of daily labourers to tide over the crisis in his ward for the last two days.
“How can we allow garbage to pile up for so many days? People are calling up and questioning us what has happened to the daily garbage collectors. I had no alternative but to hire labourers to collect the piled up waste,” the councillor said.
Sources in the council informed that Chief Officer, Clen Madeira, who was not in favour of granting leave was compelled by the staff belonging to the majority community to do so.
Mapusa Chairperson, Ryan Braganza, informed that he was not in favour of granting mass leave to the staff as it would paralyze the administration.
“I had made my stand very clear that mass leave was going to hamper the working of the council and waste collection in the city,” Braganza said.
The issue is expected to resolve by early next week as by then the workers who were on leave will resume duty.
But the administration will have to find a lasting solution to the issue of granting mass leave during crucial festivals.
