MARGAO
Margao Municipal Council administration has virtually come to a halt for want of a Chief Officer as well as a municipal engineer.
Thursday saw the chamber of the Chief Officer and the municipal engineer locked as the two officers proceeded on leave. Their replacements too are reportedly gone on leave as a result of which no A Grade officer was available to preside over the administration of the A-Class municipal council.
In view of the unprecedented situation, Director of Municipal Administration Gurudas Pilarnekar has dashed off a note to the Personnel Department to give the charge of the Margao Chief Officer to the Additional Collector, South Goa.
However, since the DMA’s note has gone to the Personnel Department only on Thursday evening, sources said one will have to wait for an order from the personnel department till Monday.
The unprecedented situation has arisen after the Chief Officer Agnelo Fernandes proceeded on 15 days of leave. As per a mechanism in place, the Chief Officer of the Mormugao Municipal Council automatically assumes charge of the Margao CO given his status as a link officer when the latter proceeds on leave. In the instant case, however, the Chief Officer of the Mormugao Municipal Council has proceeded on leave, leaving the Director of Municipal Administration in a piquant situation.
That’s not all. The absence of the municipal engineer and some engineers have almost paralyzed the functioning of the Margao council technical section.
When the municipal engineer Manoj Arsekar proceeded on leave, the void was filled by the engineer of the City Corporation of Panaji, Parsekar, at the ordinary meeting of the council. Sources, however, said that Parsekar is presently not available since he is out of station on official duty, as a result of which there’s no link engineer for the moment to take the place of the Margao municipal engineer.
Sources in the know say the MMC technical section, which is normally swarmed by assistant engineers and junior engineers, was literally found empty in the last two days, with a lone assistant engineer and two junior engineers available in the office.
