MARGAO
A couple of outgoing Margao City fathers came down heavily on the Shadow Council for Margao for targeting the MMC councilors for claiming Rs 32,000 from the municipal coffers without providing cooked food to the stranded people during the Covid lockdown.
Outgoing councillor Manor Masurkar claimed he must have spent 10 times more than the amount received from the civic coffers during the lockdown to distribute groceries and vegetables in his ward.
He lamented that the councillors were being criticized by the Shadow Council by not studying the matter properly. He said most councillors had distributed groceries during the lockdown with the expenses running into lakhs of rupees.
“Since the shops have been closed for more than a month during the lockdown, many residents have not been able to get groceries and fruits and vegetables. It’s not that people didn’t have money, but they couldn’t get out of the house. Some people tried to do so in the beginning, but had to face the brunt of the police batons. Many residents then contacted their local councillors for groceries and vegetables,” he said, claiming he had purchased and distributed all these materials out of his own pocket.
He said there’s nothing suspicious over the use of the funds since the councillors were asked to submit the bills from the shopkeepers.
