Mapusa councillors decide to video record proceedings of council meetings

Leading the charge over the wrong recording of minutes and framing of resolutions, senior councillor Prakash Bhivshet said there were glaring anomalies in the minutes of previous meetings which are brought for confirmation.

He pointed out several resolutions which were shown as unanimously passed when several city fathers raised queries on certain proposals and some councillors had even requested that their objections be recorded.

“All the minutes are wrongly written. There are some things which we never discussed or gave a green signal but have been included in the confirmation of minutes. There should be complete transparency and henceforward council meetings should be recorded,” Bhivshet said at an ordinary council meeting on Friday.

The senior councillor was objecting to the inclusion of a proposal to increase the salary of a contract staff in the confirmation of minutes when the matter was actually deferred at the last council meeting.

He wondered how the council could decide to raise the salary when the staffer concerned had not even asked for an extension of service.

“The council meetings have become like Mapusa’s Friday market. There is no importance to what we say here. How can something that was never discussed in the council meeting find its way into the confirmation of the minutes?” he questioned.

He said several resolutions which were brought in the “confirmation of minutes” have been shown as unanimously passed when actually they were not.

Ward 5 councillor Shashank Narvekar blamed the chairperson for failing to follow proper procedures while taking up the proposals for discussion.

Councillor Kayle Braganza also said that several issues raised by her or other colleagues for the good of Mapusa were never recorded.

Finally, the council in one voice decided that all council meetings should henceforward be recorded.

The resolution was proposed by Bhivshet and seconded by Sainath Raul.