MARGAO
The Margao sopo collection tender, awarded to a contractor at a whopping Rs 85 lakh, has come back to haunt the Municipal Babus once again.
Days after Goa Forward Chief Vijai Sardesai expressed his strong reservations about the sopo contract awarded by the Margao Municipal Council, BJP Councillor Mahesh Amonkar on Friday demanded the immediate cancellation of the sopo contract, alleging discrepancies.
Addressing the media, Amonkar asked Margao Municipal Chairperson Damu Shirodkar to convene a special meeting of the Council to discuss the issue thoroughly, saying the sopo contract had been awarded to a contractor by allegedly flouting the norms.
The BJP Councillor suspected the involvement of an engineer behind the discrepancies, accusing the engineer of misguiding Chief Officer Melvyn Vaz on the issue.
Claiming that one of the bidders had failed to attach the registration certificate along with the tender documents, Amonkar wondered how the Civic officials later accepted the registration certificate from the bidder. “My inquiries have revealed that there were three bidders vying for the sopo contract. Of the three bids, one bidder was disqualified on technical grounds due to issues with the documents. The second bidder, who did not submit his registration documents, should have been disqualified, but the officials accepted his registration. Since there is some hanky-panky in the entire episode, it is only right that the Municipal Chairperson convene a special meeting of the Council to discuss and deliberate on the issue thoroughly. The sopo contract should be cancelled immediately,” he demanded.
Amonkar also raised questions over the removal of benches from the juice centre near the Comba railway crossing, demanding to know why the Council had not targeted similar structures across the city.
