MARGAO
In a major decision that has raised eyebrows in the corridors of the Margao Municipal building and outside, Margao Municipal Chief Officer Gaurish Sankhwalkar has finally signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with an animal welfare trust to conduct the Animal Birth Control (ABC) program, but without inviting the mandatory Expression of Interest (EoI).
The MoU has been executed by the Chief Officer despite the fact that the Municipal legal team had insisted that the Council comply with the laid down procedures, implying the civic body is mandated to float an EoI inviting animal lovers and organisations to take up the Municipality’s ABC program.
The signing of the MoU by the Chief Officer assumes significance and comes against the backdrop of the fact that the civic body will be making a monthly payment of Rs 60,000 on the animal welfare NGO to take up the ABC program, implying that the MMC will be spending Rs 7.20 lakh annually towards the ABC program, indicating the project falls under the e-tendering category.
When The Goan called up the Chief Officer to shed light on the MMC’s failure to engage animal welfare NGOs to conduct the ABC program with the commercial capital hit by increasing stray dog population, Sankhwalkar informed that he has already signed a MoU with the city-based NGO, which was conducting the ABC program before the MoU lapsed way back in 2020.
When asked why the MMC did not float an Expression of Interest inviting prospective animal lovers to take the ABC program, Sankhwalkar has come out with an explanation that his attempts to scout for animal welfare NGOs to take up the MMC’s ABC program met with no success. He, however, had no explanation what had prevented his office from floating an EoI inviting prospective animal lovers to take up the ABC program. He also had no answer when it was pointed out that MMC would have got the choice of zeroing in on the Animal welfare NGOs if an EoI was floated by the civic body.
Incidentally, even as the Chief Officer has claimed to have inked a MoU with the animal welfare trust, which was previously engaged by the civic body prior to 2020, questions are being raised in the corridors of the civic body how come that Mission Rabies had sterilised over 2,000-odd stray dogs in the commercial capital if the MMC had an ABC program in place.
Questions are being further raised why the Chief Officer has not yet flashed the telephone number of the NGO for the benefit of the citizens as a contact point in time of emergencies.
