MARGAO
The Margao Municipal administration was exposed hollow at the meeting of the Municipal Council as records showed that the civic body will be required to pay huge sums of money on matters due to negligence of the administrative staff.
In fact, at the Council meeting chaired by civic chief Damu Shirodkar, councillors cutting across party lines called for a detailed probe to find out the lapses that has caused huge loss to the civic body and fix responsibility and accountability on the erring staff.
Councillors were left fuming when the issue of the Gandhi market arbitration matter brought to the fore that the Council is now required to pay a whopping Rs 1.07 crore to the contractor, when the original amount payable to the contractor was only Rs 7 lakh.
Similarly, the meeting witnessed uproar over the payment of money amounting to Rs 13 lakh to contractors as per the court directions for the execution of works when the initial amount of the works was only Rs 8 lakh.
That’s not all. It has come to light during the meeting that the Margao Municipality did not avail the PWD’s One Time Settlement scheme for the payment of water bills. While the MMC’s water bills have nearly touched Rs 1 crore, councillors demanded to know why the administration did not take benefit of the OTS scheme which would have reduced the water bill to less than Rs 50 lakh.
The issue over the payment of money amounting to Rs 1.65 lakh every month to the contractor running the bio-methanation plant came up for discussion, with even the ruling BJP councillors including Shagun Naik expressing serious doubts over the efficacy of the plant and the payment of huge money to the contractor.
Ruling councillor Sadanand Naik pointed out that the MMC may face further trouble since contractors roped in by the civic body to take up emergency works have not been paid for months and years. “Be prepared for many more arbitration proceedings since these contractors have threatened to move the courts for non-payment of money for the work done,” he said.
Councillors, cutting across party lines, demanded that Chairperson Damu Shirodkar and Chief Officer Gaurish Sankhwalkar put a system in place to fix responsibility on the officers involved in draining the civic coffers. The Chairperson has even mooted a probe by a retired Judge to go into the financial loss caused by administrative lapses and to fix responsibility. Even as he assured to write to the Director, Urban Development to appoint a retired Judge to conduct the probe, councillors not only demanded an inquiry but recovery of the loss from the erring officials.
On the Gandhi market arbitration matter, the Council gave its nod to form a three-member committee to discuss with the contractor for an amicable settlement of the dispute.
Raising the issue of PWD OTS scheme, councillor Ravindra Naik demanded fixing of responsibility on why the officials did not avail the scheme. He wondered whether the Council will go on paying the tax payers money, citing a recent case where in the civic body had deposited Rs 2.7 crore in the High Court in respect of a road at Navelim.
Facing flak from civil society, MMC defers proposal to hike construction licence fees
MARGAO: Facing flak from the civil society over the steep hike in rates of construction licence fees proposed by the PWD, the Margao Municipal Council on Friday resolved to defer the issue for the time being.
When the matter came up for discussion at the Council meeting, councillors cutting across party lines expressed their reservations to the proposed hike in the construction licence fee rates.
Taking cognizance of the sentiments of the members, Chairperson Damu Shirodkar said the Council has resolved to defer the matter, saying the issue may be taken up for discussion at a later stage only after a detailed study.
The meeting also discussed the status of the Animal Birth Control (ABC) program and the proposal received by a NGO to take up mass dog sterilisation. After much discussion, the Chairperson said the Council has given its nod for the sterilisation of dogs by the NGO during a three month camp. He also said the Council will ink a fresh MoU with the NGO handling the ABC program.
The Council has also given its nod to float an e-tender for the appointment of a consultant/ land survey for the mapping of drainage within the jurisdiction of MMC.
High payments to contractor triggers slugfest between Ganashyam, Damu
MARGAO: Payments of huge money to the contractor in pending matters by the Margao civic body triggered a slugfest between ex-MMC chairperson Ganashyam Shirodkar and incumbent civic chief Damu Shirodkar.
The duo came face to face at the fag-end of the marathon four-hour long meeting when Ganashyam charged that the Margao Municipal Council under the leadership of Damu Shirodkar is heading towards bankruptcy. He charged that the civic body has been only making the payments from the civic coffers without going in for major revenue recoveries.
The two-time former MMC chairperson said the fact that the MMC is now liable to pay the Gandhi market contractor an amount of Rs 1.7 crore when the original amount was just Rs 7 lakh shows the state of affairs in the civic body. “The MMC has paid to a contractor Rs 13 lakh when the original amount of a work was only Rs 8 lakh. The civic body has deposited an amount of Rs 2.70 crore in the High Court in respect of a road at Navelim,” he said, while terming the Council as unfit, which has no interest of the city at heart.
Chairperson Damu Shirodkar, however, has hit back at his rival over the allegations of bankruptcy. Saying the Gandhi market arbitration matter dates back to decades, Chairperson Damu said Ganashyam should explain to Madgavkars what action he had taken on the matter when he had twice presided over the Margao Municipality as its Chairperson. “The Gandhi market issue is not my creation. It has been pending over the decades. Why did Ganashyam not resolve the issue when he had twice been the MMC Chairperson in the past. If he thinks I am an unfit Chairperson what had stopped Ganashyam to resolve the issue during his tenure,” he questioned.
Damu, however, assured that he would order an inquiry into each of the issues that came up for discussion at the Council meeting, promising to initiate inquiry into the lapses by the erring officials.
