MARGAO
Empty corridors welcome visitors to the Margao Municipal Council as Covid has raised its ugly head in the civic body in the last few days.
While the Municipal building has recorded less number of visitors since the city went in for a voluntary lockdown, it is learnt that around 11 Municipal staff have been infected by Covid, keeping the infected staff and those who had come in contact with them away from office.
The situation has prompted Margao Municipal Chief Officer Agnelo Fernandes to put a system in place wherein only 50 per cent of the staff and employees report for work in the building. “We are managing the emerging situation with 50 per cent staff as around 11 employees were infected by Covid. Since people have gone in for voluntary lockdown, the number of visitors to the civic body has also come down significantly,” the Chief Officer added.
Inquiries by The Goan revealed that while huge queue of citizens was literally the order of the day last month to pay the house tax and other taxes, people now come only in trickles to make the payments.
The queue at the births and deaths section has also come down significantly during the last one week, with hardly any citizen coming with applications for these documents.
“We are managing the show. Our frontline garbage workers are on the field, clearing the waste and transporting the same to the Sonsodo plant. The door-to-door waste collection has also been going on smoothly so far without any complaints from the citizens,” the Chief Officer added.
