MARGAO
Opposition councillors staged a walk out at the special meeting of the Margao Municipal Council on Monday over the controversial extension given to the Sopo contractor with a hike of 15 per cent when the council had settled for a 25 per cent increase.
Led by former municipal Vice-chairperson Doris Texeira, the opposition councillors walked out of the special meeting as they were unhappy over the replies given by Chairperson Babita Prabhudesai over the council’s decision to extend the Sopo contract by a month for just 15 per cent hike.
When the Chairperson called the meeting to order, Doris and other opposition councillors, Avinash
Shirodkar, Manoj Masurkar, Geeta Shirodkar and Sharad Prabhudesai questioned the Chairperson for extending the contract with only a 15 per cent hike when the council meeting had approved the Sopo extension for a 25 per cent hike.
As the opposition councillors continued with their questions on whether the council resolutions have any meaning, Babita sought to defend the hike of only 15 per cent saying a 25 per cent hike would have burdened the contractor since he was now liable to pay 18 per cent GST on Sopo. Doris shot back saying the councilors are here to protect the interest of the civic body and not any individual, even as the Chairperson hit out at the opposition saying they should not be short sighted in their approach.
The opposition and the Chairperson again clashed when Doris said the council could have collected the Sopo departmentally if the contractor had expressed his inability to take up the contract for a 25 per cent hike. Taken aback by the Opposition tirade, Chairperson sought to justify her decision by pointing out that the municipal staff would not have been available for Sopo collection, since they are already overstretched in view of the anti-plastic drive and recovery exercise.
Cornered by the opposition, the Chairperson maintained that Monday’s meeting was specifically called to address the Sonsodo issue and not the Sopo issue, leaving Doris and other councillors to stage a walk out.
Incidentally, the Chairperson later told the media that the opposition had come prepared to create a ruckus at the meeting, but reiterated that the municipal workers would not have been in a position to collect the Sopo departmentally given their preoccupation with the plastic drive.
What’s interesting to note is that the Chairperson denied that the CO was all set to collect the Sopo departmentally in the event the contractor backed out at the eleventh hour.
