MARGAO
The Shadow Council for Margao on Sunday questioned the silence of the Margao MLA Digambar Kamat over the major scam that has occurred at the Margao Municipal Council.
Saying that the Margao MLA had seen undue reason to come out with an Ordinance to ensure that he gets control over the Council by getting his man planted on to the Chairperson’s seat, Shadow Council for Margao convenor Savio Coutinho has questioned how can he be so mute to such a huge fraud that has occurred in his Council.
Addressing the media along with Robert Vaz, Damodar Onskar and Clifford Dias, SCM convener challenged the Margao MLA to declare that he shall ensure that the entire misappropriated amount will be recovered from the erring staff. “The fact that the police complaint was filed after over a month, and the Municipal staff is yet to be taken into custody, it becomes even more suggestive that some politician is pressurising the police to go slow in this matter, Coutinho charged.
The SCM further called upon the MLAs of Fatorda Vijai Sardesai and Curtorim Reginaldo Lourenco to take up this matter, as their constituents are also the contributors to the Municipal treasury.
The SCM has further charged that a blame game has started within the Council by which the chairperson is found pointing fingers towards the Chief Officer and the Chief Officer in turn is blaming other MMC officials who were part of the team appointed to oversee the feast fair setup. “What is however interesting is that the chairperson, at the Council meeting held on June 14 suggested that the Chief Officer had empowered the LDC to collect the stall fees, then how can the Chief Officer himself be kept out of this issue?, he said.
He demanded that there should be an investigation on the deposits and withdrawals of all the bank accounts held by the LDC as this will be an indicator to the collection that had actually come from the feast fair stalls.
The SCM has warned that apart from filing official complaints before the Chief Secretary and the DMA, they will also give a call to all the taxpayers to come out on the streets to demand for recovery of funds. Coutinho also warned that all the taxpayers will be given a call to stop paying taxes to the Council until the misappropriated funds are recovered with interest.
