Issues galore, MMC struggling to fight fit
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One month is indeed a short time to assess the functioning or performance of a newly-elected local self-government body. Exactly a month in office after she was elected unopposed to preside over the affairs of the Margao Municipal Council after Madgavkars gave the Margao Civic Alliance a huge mandate to rule the City, Margao’s First Citizen Dr Babita Angle Prabhudesai is still grappling with basic issues such as manpower shortage, including the vacant posts of key officers and the absence of a system to deliver the goods to the citizens, reports The Goan
She took over the reigns of office just a month ago amidst high expectations from Madgavkars to deliver the goods after the Margao Civic Alliance swept to power in the recently held Municipal section with a huge mandate. Chairperson Dr Babita Angle Prabhudesai, however, has found to her shock and surprise that the Municipal body has either no system in place or the system is suffering from paralysis.
“You ask for a file, and the reply comes saying that the file is either missing or the concerned staffer is on leave. The staff manning the Municipal vehicles goes on leave and the entire system pertaining to the vehicles comes to a halt for want of an alternate arrangement. This is not acceptable in a Municipal body where citizens expect quick delivery from the elected representatives and the babus," Babita said.
“Yes, one month is too short a time to achieve anything, but I am putting my best to put a mechanism in place in order to streamline the administration and give relief to the people. Any staffer may go on leave, but the system should run without any problem. We are first trying to streamline the administration," she said.
Her efforts may take time to succeed given that the civic body is facing shortage of officials manning important sections. While the new body had vowed to tone up the recoveries amounting to over Rs 10 crore, there’s no dedicated recovery officer and neither the posts of Tax superintendent and Accountants and Taxation officer filled up till date. “Pending filling up of the posts, we plan to utilise the available manpower to go around the establishments with the ward councillor and give a week’s time to the owners to pay the taxes and licenses. We have asked the DMA to provide us with a full-time Chief Officer, a recovery officer and an Officer on Special Duty on a priority basis. We are all new to the civic administration. An OSD for the Chairperson will go a long way in understanding the administrative issues and take certain decisions taking into account the legalities," she said.
On the garbage front, the new body has laid the foundation stone for the Sonsodo landfill site and has adopted a resolution to outsource door-to-door waste collection. “The tender documents are ready and we are studying the papers. The door-to-door waste collection tender will be floated no sooner the DMA gives his nod," Babita added.
Just imagine a situation when an A Class Municipality has no full-time Chief Officer to look after the civic administration. That’s not all. Incumbent MMC Chief Officer Y B Tawde holds two additional charges that of Additional Collector, South and Additional Collector, Ponda.
In the absence of the Chief Officer, rules mandate the Administrative cum Accounts Officer (AAO) to hold the fort in the civic body. But, the new body that assumed office has realised that the AAO also holds an additional charge of Mormugao Municipal Council.
A visit to the Margao municipal taxation section reveals the worst scenario. At a time when right from the Urban Development Minister Francis D’Souza to the Director of Municipal Administration, Elvis Gomes down to the City Father stress on recovery of revenue arrears pegged at over Rs 10 crore, there’s no dedicated recovery officer to oversee the recoveries. Indeed, there’s no recovery cell worth its name in the taxation section till date.
Inquiries has further revealed that two crucial posts in a taxation section “ Accounts and Taxation Officer and Tax Superintendent “ are lying vacant for months now, further hampering the work in the accounts and taxation section. The only consolation for the new body is that the DMA has sent back the lady accountant to the Municipality after her mysterious transfer a couple of months ago.
A number of other posts, including office superintendents are lying vacant, hampering the smooth functioning of the administration.
Director of Municipal Administration Elvis Gomes has said that filling up vacant posts lies within the domain of the Margao Municipal Council, while admitting that the government’s role comes into play only in respect of the common cadre posts.
“If there are certain posts vacant in Margao municipality, they should go ahead and fill them up departmentally. The council need not wait for the government to fill up the posts. As far as the common cadre posts are concerned, the responsibility lies on the government, but we are facing shortage of accountants, which we are trying to fill up at the earliest," Gomes said.
He pointed out that the Departmental Promotion Committee (DPC) is headed by a Municipal chairperson, adding that if there are some vacant posts in the Margao civic body, the Chairperson should initiate measures to fill them up.
He said the government will help the civic body if there’s a representation to fill up the vacant posts on deputations if the existing staff are not eligible for the posts.
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Foundation stone laid for the Rs 2 crore Sonsodo landfill site
Resolution adopted for outsourcing of door-to-door waste collection
Request to the government to tone up waste transportation infrastructure
Tender documents vis-Ã -vis waste outsourcing are getting final touches
