MAPUSA
While the Mapusa civic body has hiked taxes across the board, the delivery of civic facilities has not been upto the expectations with several residents questioning the performance of the current council.
Bad roads, improper garbage collection, chaotic parking continues to hassle people in town.
For almost eight months, the civic body has failed to tender Sopo collection in the municipal market which causes loss in revenue to the council in lakhs.
Several municipal roads are in pitiable condition while the municipality are waiting for the PWD to repair the roads.
While the door-to-door garbage collection has been successful to a certain extent, waste collection of black spots has been in tatters.
“When the council hikes the tax it should also give better service to the people. Garbage collection is in a mess. The condition of municipal roads is pathetic. Parking is in total disarray. What civic facilities is the municipality offering? This council has failed on all fronts,” said Mahesh Rane, a resident of Khorlim, Mapusa.
He said there was a complete breakdown of administration in the municipality and the council has been clueless in handling the issues.
“Some months back the council had conducted an encroachment drive with much fanfare. The illegal extensions were raised down and goods on the footpath were seized by the municipality with much flourish. But now the situation is back to what it was before. The encroachment is back,” Rane said.
According to Jawaharlal Shetye, a Mapusa resident, the municipality was not serious in generating revenue and has miserably failed to plug revenue leakage.
He said this council is the worst council Mapusa ever had. He also alleged that many of the councillors were tainted and had cases against them.
“This council has to be dissolved and administration rule should be imposed on the Mapusa Municipal Council,” Shetye said.
On Monday, Mapusa merchants slammed the council for concentrating on revenue generation but failing to provide service to the people.
They said the municipal council had increased the taxes but the civic facilities had not improved.
“Nobody is paying attention to the problems of the citizens. I made several complaints about the garbage dump in front of my house but the municipality failed to collect it. About the condition of our roads, the less said the better,” said Milagres D’Souza, a resident of Ansabhat Mapusa.
